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The Work of The Preacher 

A Study of Homiletic Principles 
and Methods 



BY 

LEWIS O. BRASTOW 

Formerly Professor of Homiletics, Yale University 
Author of The Modern Pulpit, Representative Modern Preachers, Etc. 



THE PILGRIM PRESS 

BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO 

c 



&% 



Copyright 191 4 

BY 

Congregational Sunday School 
and Publishing Society 



THE PILGRIM PRESS 
BOSTON 

NOV 12 1914 
©G1.A387513 



PREFACE 

It was only toward the end of his active service of twenty- 
two years (1885-1907) as teacher of Practical Theology at 
Yale that Dr. Brastow was persuaded to put some of the 
material of his lectures into books. "Representative Modern 
Preachers" appeared in 1904, and contained essays on nine 
of the most famous preachers of the recent past. "The 
Modern Pulpit: a Study of Homiletic Sources and Charac- 
teristics," was published in 1906. It undertakes to analyze 
the character and tendencies of the modern world, and in this 
light to understand the present ideals and achievements of 
various Christian communions in Germany, England, and the 
United States. These biographical studies and historical 
interpretations prepared the way for a more theoretical treat- 
ment of the principles and methods of the preacher's art. 
The present book was finished in 1908. A year and a half 
of travel, and then two years of illness delayed its publication, 
and it now appears as a memorial of a finished life. 

The three books form indeed together a memorial fitting 
and worthy of this preacher and teacher of preachers. They 
indicate the range of his studies, the variety and freshness of 
his methods as a teacher, and the striking qualities of his 
mind. They are books which in an unusual measure embody 
the personality of their author ; and his was a personality of 
unusual force and distinction. It is not granted to many men 
to leave in books so characteristic and adequate an expression 
of their spirit and of their life work. These are not books 
on the art of preaching only, but on the contents of the 
preacher's message as well. They deal with the nature of 



vi PREFACE 

the Christian religion, with its fitness and sufficiency for the 
moral and spiritual needs of our own age, and with the ways 
in which it can be wisely and effectively applied to those 
needs. To discover and develop in his pupils all the capaci- 
ties, physical, mental and spiritual, that serve to make wiser 
and more effective such application of the Gospel to living 
men and to actual conditions, was the one aim of his life. For 
the present volume his first and final wish would be that it 
may help his many former pupils and others "to win men to 
Christ and to build them into his moral completeness." 

Frank C. Porter. 
Yale University, 
May, 1914. 



CONTENTS 

SECTION FIRST * 
PRE-SUPPOSITIONS OF HOMILETIC SCIENCE 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. The Christian Conception of Preaching. ... 3 

1. Christian Preaching as Related to Subject Matter, 

p. 4. 

2. Christian Preaching as Related to the Preacher, p. 6. 

3. Christian Preaching as Related to the Audience, p. II. 

4. Christian Preaching as Related to Form, p. 14. 

II. The Aim of Christian Preaching 18 

1. The Importance of Homiletic Aim, p. 18. 

2. The Central and Inclusive Homiletic Aim, p. 24. 

III. The Gifts of the Preacher, 33 

1. Classification of Gifts, p. 34. 

a. Mental Gifts, p. 34. 

b. Emotional Gifts, p. 37. 

c. Spiritual Gifts, p. 41. 

d. Rhetorical Gifts, p. 42. 

2. Culture of Gifts, p. 44. 

IV. The Study of Homiletics 50 

1. The Value of Homiletic Study, p. 50. 

2. Methods of Homiletic Study, p. 60. 

a. Study of Homiletic Principles, p. 60. 

b. Study of Living Preachers, p. 63. 

c. Analysis of Published Products, p. 64. 

d. Personal Experiences and Criticism, p. 64. 

SECTION SECOND 
SOURCES OF HOMILETIC MATERIAL 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Biblical Sources of Preacher's Message. ... 69 

1. Canonical Genuineness and Authenticity, p. 70. 

2. Use of the Old Testament in Preaching, p. 73. 



viii CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

3. Use of the New Testament, p. 81. 
II. Christian Quality of the Preacher's Message. . . 84 

1. Presentation of the Personality of Christ, p. 86. 

2. Presentation of the Personal Character of Christ, 

p. 87. 

3. Presentation of the Official Character of Christ, p. 88. 

4. The Interpretation of the Teachings of Christ, p. 89. 

III. Textual Basis of the Preacher's Work. 93 

1. The Significance of the Text, p. 93. 

2. The Value of the Text, p. 97. 

3. Logical and Rhetorical Qualities of the Text, p. 103. 

IV. EXEGETICAL BASIS OF THE PREACHER'S WORK. . . . 108 

1. The Historic Sense, p. 108. 

a. A Textual Question, p. 108. 

b. A Grammatical Question, p. 109. 

c. A Contextual Question, p. no. 

d. A Doctrinal Question, p. in. 

e. A Historical Question, p. 112. 

f. A Literary Question, p. 113. 

g. A Religious Question, p. 114. 

2. The Truth of the Text and its Value for Homiletic 

Use, p. 116. 

a. Historical and Biographical Texts, p. 117. 

b. Prophetic Texts, p. 118. 

c. Typical Texts, p. 119. 

d. Allegorical Texts, p. 120. 

e. Doctrinal Texts, p. 121. 

V. Homiletic Correspondences in the Use of the Text. . 123 

1. Correspondence of Thought, p. 123. 

2. Correspondence of Tone, p. 135. 

VI. Considerations Regulative for the Choice of Subjects. 140 

1. The Needs of the Congregation, p. 141. 

2. The Claims of Christian Truth, p. 144. 

3. The Needs of the Preacher, p. 145. 

SECTION THIRD 
TYPES OF HOMILETIC PRODUCT 

CHAPTER pAGE 

I. The Expository Type j-n 

1. The Conception of Expository Preaching, p. 152. 



CONTENTS ix 

CHAPTER PAGE 

2. Homiletic Peculiarities of Expository Preaching, 

P. 155- 

3. Qualifications for Effective Expository Preaching, 

p. 158. 

4. The Value of Expository Preaching, p. 162. 

II. The Doctrinal Type 172 

1. The Conception of Doctrinal Preaching, p. 172. 

2. Methods of Doctrinal Preaching, p. 176. 

3. The Importance of Doctrinal Preaching, p. 185. 

4. The Handling of the Doctrinal Sermon, p. 195. 

III. The Ethical Type 202 

1. The Conception of Ethical Preaching, p. 202. 

2. The Christian Quality of Ethical Preaching, p. 206. 

3. Methods of Ethical Preaching, p. 214. 

4. The Need of Ethical Preaching, p. 218. 

IV. The Evangelistic Type 230 

1. The Conception of Evangelistic Preaching, p. 230. 

2. The Need of Pastoral Evangelism, p. 231. 

3. Evangelistic Culture, p. 236. 

4. Evangelistic Motives, p. 247. 

V. Types of Sermon Delivery 258 

1. The Manuscript Type, p. 260. 

2. The Extemporaneous Type, p. 266. 

3. The Memoriter Type, p. 273. 

SECTION FOURTH 
METHODS OF HOMILETIC ART 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. The Introduction. 279 

1. The Object of the Introduction, p. 279. 

2. Methods of Introduction, p. 284. 

3. Qualities of Introduction, p. 293. 

II. The Theme 299 

1. Its Significance and Importance, p. 299. 

2. Its Formulation, p. 302. 

3. Methods of Statement, p. 307. 

4. Qualities of Form, p. 313. 

III. The Outline. 318 

1. Its Significance, p. 318. 

2. The Methods of Outline, p. 320. 



x CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

3. The Necessity of Outline, -p. 326. 

4. The Topics of the Outline, p. 329. 

5. The Value of, the Outline, p. 336. 

IV. The Development. 349 

1. Methods of Development, p. 349. 

2. Production of Material, p. 367. 

V. The Conclusion 381 

1. The Value of the Conclusion, p. 382. 

2. Qualities of the Conclusion, p. 386. 

3. Methods of the Conclusion, p. 391. 

VI. The Rhetorical Form 402 

1. The Claims of Rhetorical Culture, p. 403. 

2. Professional Factors in Rhetorical Form, p. 413. 

3. Methods of Rhetorical Culture, p. 421. 



I 

SECTION FIRST 

PRESUPPOSITIONS OF HOMILETIC 
SCIENCE 



CHAPTER I 

THE CHRISTIAN CONCEPTION OF PREACHING 

Homiletics is that branch of practical theology which con- 
cerns itself with the science and art of preaching. As a sci- 
ence, or "way of knowing," it deals with the theory of preach- 
ing, or the principles on which it rests. As an art, or "way of 
doing," it deals with the methods by which it applies its prin- 
ciples. In entering upon our investigation of these principles 
and methods, let us at the outset note some preliminary con- 
siderations touching the character of the preacher's work, 
and his fitness and training for it. And in the first place a 
proper Christian conception of his function seems necessary. 

Preaching is speech, but not all speech is preaching. It is 
a specific type of speech. To get at what is distinctive of it, 
we must look at it in its different aspects. Christian preaching 
has a fourfold interest, and must be contemplated in four 
different relations. As related to its subject matter, it has a 
specifically Biblical interest, or, more comprehensively, a dis- 
tinctively religious and theological interest. As related to 
the preacher, it has an official, or representative, and at the 
same time a strongly personal, interest. As related to the 
audience, it has a liturgical and an evangelistic interest. As 
related to its form or method, it has an organic and a rhetori- 
cal interest. All of these elements enter into our conception 
of Christian preaching, for they are necessary to conserve the 
interests of Biblical religion, of the preacher's personality, the 
rights of the church, the edification and conversion of men and 
the laws of logic and rhetoric. 



4 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

I. Christian Preaching as related to Subject Matter 

Preaching is properly a function of the Christian Church, 
and homiletics, as its science, is, as already suggested, a 
branch of practical theology. From this point of view only 
can it be adequately conceived and defined. If it were defined 
as only a branch of general rhetoric, it might consistently ex- 
clude all reference to the Christian subject matter of preaching 
and all relation to the work of the church. But it has for its 
background the thought and life of the church. Every branch 
of Christian theology makes its contribution to the preacher's 
science, and to his work. Exegetical and Biblical theology 
take us into the original sources of the Christian preacher's 
message. They reveal and interpret the substance, the spirit, 
the aim and the method of the preaching of Jesus and of his 
consecrated messengers, and they furnish guidance and in- 
spiration to the preacher in his work in every age. Exegesis 
and homiletics have been closely allied in every period of the 
history of the church. Historical theology takes us into the 
lives and the activities of the great preachers of the church. 
It makes known the great commanding truths that have held 
sway in different periods of Christian history, reveals the 
influences that, in the changes of time, have wrought upon the 
preacher in modifying his teaching and his method and dis- 
closes the results that have attended the proclamation of his 
message. Doctrinal theology interprets and formulates the 
great central facts and truths of redemptive religion, of which 
the preacher may and may well avail himself in his effort to 
give intellectual expression to his Christian message. And 
practical theology, having supreme reference to the present 
practical, moral and religious needs of men, forages for its 
material in all these realms of theological science and in all 
other available realms of knowledge, and adjusts the preacher's 
work to the conditions of thought and life of the age in which 



CHRISTIAN CONCEPTION OF PREACHING 5 

he lives. Christian preaching thus presupposes a background 
of Christian truth, of Christian history and of Christian 
science. It is not the utterance of personal opinions based 
on the intelligence or on the experience of the individual 
preacher alone. Preaching thus based would have no authori- 
tatively valid message and no accredited messenger. Preach- 
ing is in the true and accepted sense of the term by authority. 
Of course it makes its appeal to the individual and common 
human conscience and experience. It presupposes a moral and 
religious sense, without which it were fruitless. But it is 
precisely the content of Christian fact and truth that quickens 
and enlightens this moral and religious sense. Preaching, 
therefore, reaches far back in to the very heart of Christianity. 
This conditions the preacher's message. But by conditioning 
the content of preaching, it also conditions our conception of 
its nature, of its aim and largely of its form. It yields a 
worthy conception of what it is to preach, why we preach, and 
to a considerable extent it suggests how we should preach. 
Even the question of form is far more than an ordinary rhetori- 
cal question. If we examine the preaching of the early 
church, if we look, in fact, at the preaching of the most 
Christian type in any period, we shall see at once how it is 
that its Christian content conditions the aim which the 
preacher has in view and the form which his message takes. 
In the first place, it will take the form of announcement. It 
is the work of heralding. Christianity is the story of redemp- 
tion. It is the good news of the redeeming grace of God. 
It is first of all a revelation of redemptive facts. The preach- 
er's primal aim is to bear witness to the facts. Preaching is 
first of all a presentation of the message of grace. But it 
also takes the form of teaching. For the facts and associate 
truths of Christianity must be interpreted. Their significance, 
their mutual interdependence and their adaptation and adjust- 
ment to the intelligence of men must be made known. Preach- 






6 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

ing is and always has been to a large extent the expounding 
of the inner significance of the great facts and truths of 
Christianity; i. e., it has taken the form of teaching. 

It all ultimates, however, in the form of persuasion. For 
promulgation and interpretation must have reference to 
practical results. They must aim at the production of charac- 
ter and the regulation of conduct. This practical enforce- 
ment of the truth is persuasion. These three elements belong 
to any worthy conception of Christian preaching. The mission 
of Christianity itself demands them. Christian preaching, 
therefore, may be provisionally defined as the declaration, 
interpretation and persuasive application of Christian facts 
and truths, that have been given in the religion of redemption 
and are Biblically fixed. The effectiveness of preaching, 
therefore, must depend largely upon its content. It is not 
altogether how we preach, but it is first of all what we preach 
that conditions its power. Without preaching the truth it- 
self would indeed fail adequately to reach men. But it is 
this very truth that is the primal condition of the preacher's 
power. Without the pulpit the truth would fail. But without 
the truth the pulpit itself would fail. 

II. Christian Preaching as related to the Preacher 
Preaching has a personal and an official or quasi-official 
interest. The personality of the preacher includes what he is 
and what he represents. He is a man but he is also a church- 
man. He utters the truth of personal experience, but it is 
common truth. Preaching is a strongly personal, but not a 
private utterance. 

i. Preaching is a representative utterance. Explicitly or 
implicitly, the preacher speaks for others. His message has an 
official or semi-official character. The function of the 
preacher is at once prophetic and priestly. He speaks for God 
and he speaks for men. As prophet, the preacher is the 



CHRISTIAN CONCEPTION OIF PREACHING 7 

mouthpiece of his Master. He brings a message. The mes- 
sage presupposes an accredited messenger. Note the terms 
that are applied to him in the New Testament. He is an 
Apostle, — a man sent; one commissioned to speak the word 
and do the work of another. He is an ambassador ; one who 
represents a government; bears its credentials and speaks and 
acts for it. He is a herald; one authorized to make a public 
announcement. We may not over-press these terms, nor over- 
accentuate their official significance. But they clearly suggest 
a representative character in the preacher. 

As prophet he represents God. The term has no adequate 
meaning if it be not true that he speaks for God. It is God 
who gives him his message and He who calls the messenger. 
Whether one speak as evangelist, missionary or pastor, he is 
a messenger and minister of Christ and holds his credentials 
from him. But he is also a representative of the church. 
As such his utterance has, in the proper sense of the term, a 
priestly quality. He is as really a servant of the church and 
speaks for it, as he is a servant of Christ and speaks for him. 
Many of our Protestant churches hesitate to use the word 
priestly as applied to the work of a Christian minister. But 
in so far as he ministers worthily in the name of the church 
and mediates the grace of which it is the depository, his func- 
tion is nothing less than priestly. The Reformed churches 
have laid full accent upon the preacher's representative func- 
tion Godward. They have held in supreme honor the prophetic 
function. But in minimizing the representative function 
churchward, they have underestimated the priestly function. 
In this the Lutheran and Anglican churches stand nearer the 
truth of the matter. Every true preacher should in some way 
be accredited by his church. His proclamation should not go 
forth as a merely private utterance. The preacher himself 
needs to feel that he speaks for the church, speaks for those 
who share with him the common Christian truth and life, as 



8 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

he needs to feel that he speaks for God. The dignity and 
sacredness of his work are conditioned by its priestly, as well 
as by its prophetic quality. The church is responsible for its 
message. It should not allow it to fall into the hands of pri- 
vate individuals, who have no endorsement, explicit or implicit, 
official or quasi-official, from it. This representative character 
should be recognized in some appropriate way, as in fact it 
generally is recognized even in the case of the lay evangelist, 
at least by substantial endorsement. It fails, however, of 
fullest endorsement without official recognition. Doubtless 
Christ has commissioned many a man to bear his message, 
who has not received the formal credentials of the church. 
Undue emphasis of the preacher's dependence on and limitation 
by the church may involve an undervaluation of Christ's own 
primal commission, and may endanger the freedom and power 
of preaching. But the claim that the preacher speaks only 
for Christ and that as regards the church he speaks mostly 
as a private individual and without responsibility to it, would 
ultimate in the introduction of fanaticism and caprice and 
would endanger the purity of public teaching and produce 
schism between Christ and his church. The pastoral and 
official quality in preaching, therefore, needs emphasis. The 
distinction between preaching and prophesying is valid. 
Prophesying may be a true lay-function. Preaching is an 
official function. 

2. But true preaching is an intensely personal utterance. 
It is the expression not only of what is mentally appropriated, 
but of what is cherished as a sacred moral and spiritual con- 
viction. We sometimes satirize a man by saying that he 
preaches. But we pay him the compliment of recognizing the 
earnestness and genuineness of his advocacy. Preaching has 
never been, and can never be, a mere exposition of objective 
truth, but is a presentation of truth vitalized by personal moral 
and religious experience. The truth may be taught after a 



CHRISTIAN CONCEPTION OF PREACHING 9 

fashion, without being spiritually appropriated, but it cannot 
be preached. "We believe and therefore speak," "We speak 
that we do know and testify that we have seen." Preaching is 
testimony now as at the first. The spirit of God works through 
truth as appropriated by a living soul. Apostolic preaching 
was a charism. For this reason the personal element was 
prominent. In I Cor., Chapter II, Paul gives us the apostolic 
conception of preaching. The two elements are knowledge 
and utterance. Knowledge of God's revelation is product of 
the working of God's spirit in the soul of the believer. "We 
know the things that are freely given us of God." "The spir- 
itual man discerneth * * * judgeth all things." And this knowl- 
edge is communicated in words that are also product of the 
working of God's spirit. "Which things [i. e., things freely 
given of God] we also speak [speak as well as know], not in 
words taught by man's wisdom [logic and rhetoric] but [in 
words] taught by the spirit, combining spiritual things with 
spiritual" [i. e., uniting a spirit-prompted utterance with a spirit- 
taught knowledge]. Spirit-taught knowledge may not be com- 
bined with a merely man-taught logic and rhetoric. The 
meaning is clear. Experimental knowledge of God's truth, 
product of God's spirit working within, expresses itself in 
words that bear the marks of the same power that makes the 
truth known. The preacher's words become fit instrument 
for the transmission of the truth. The spirit of God is active, 
not only in revealing the truth to the soul but in those emo- 
tions and moral convictions and spiritual susceptibilities as 
well that find utterance in communicating the truth. This is 
the truth of verbal inspiration. It is not the inspiration that 
fixed the record of revelation, but the inspiration that gave 
power to its communication. It was not wholly the truth 
communicated but the mighty energy of the communication 
itself, that made apostolic preaching so effective. But shall 
we assume that this inspiration was limited to the first Chris- 



io THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

tian preachers? How then shall we vindicate the prophetic 
quality in the preaching of our own day? How shall we 
justify the claim that in every age the utterance of the true 
preacher is a message ? We need not over-press the term, but 
trie preacher who spiritually discerns and personally appro- 
priates the truth and who utters it with the power of a sympa- 
thetic moral conviction has the primal elements of inspiration. 
It was not merely the re-discovery of the saving truths of Chris- 
tianity, but their fresh appropriation in Christian experience 
that made the preaching of the Reformation so powerful. It 
was the divorce of the objective truth, that was formulated 
in the creeds of the church, from Christian experience and the 
disproportionate importance that was attached to doctrinal 
formularies that devitalized the preaching of the post- 
Reformation period. It is the restoration of the subjective 
and personal element that gives character to the preaching of 
our own day. The subjective and personal element is the 
individualizing power in preaching. Individuality of form is 
one of the marks of the preaching of all the great reform 
preachers of the church. Preaching that is not the product of 
vital, interior force tends to a formal, stereotyped method. 
Christian oratory is the highest type of oratory, for the reason, 
in part, that it is a product of such reverence for and sympa- 
thy with the truth that it becomes a personal power in belief 
and conviction and thus imparts personal force to the utter- 
ances of the speaker. Classical oratory laid supreme accent 
upon the relation of the speaker to his audience; Christian 
oratory lays proportionate stress upon the relation of the 
speaker to his subject. It was enough for the classical orator 
that he seem to be interested in his subject, convinced of its 
truth and honest in its enforcement. This is of supreme im- 
portance chiefly in order that he may persuade his hearers. 
But the Christian orator speaks to the moral judgments and 
convictions of men, and he must not only seem to be moved 



CHRISTIAN CONCEPTION OP PREACHING n 

by the truth, he must be possessed by it and must speak what 
he believes. It is this note of reality, of truth in the inward 
parts, that has individualizing and supreme persuasive 
power. 

III. Christian Preaching as related to the Audience 

Preaching is public address, not private conference. Ety- 
mologically it suggests publicity, the presence of an assembly. 
It presupposes an audience. This is generally a mixed assem- 
bly. The original Christian assembly was homogeneous, and 
preaching was an address to this Christian assembly by one of 
its members on a subject of common Christian interest. 
This element of common Christian fellowship gave character 
to the address. It was a congregation of believers. The 
speaker was identified with his audience and voiced the 
common Christian feeling, faith, conviction. Hence the sig- 
nificance of the word "homily" ( otuXCa ) as applied to the 
preaching of the early Christian church. It means primarily 
companionship, then conference among companions, and then 
an address to an assembly of companions. Thus the notion of 
homogeneity in the audience is recognized. It is this primitive 
conception of Christian preaching which limits it to the work 
of teaching and impressing a Christian congregation, to which 
German homiletics has attached itself. It does not presuppose 
a heterogeneous audience, and it treats evangelistic preaching 
as an exceptional type of preaching and as demanding separate 
consideration. But it is impossible for us to treat the question 
in this manner. It ignores the miscellaneous character of the 
ordinary congregation. If it were admissible to assume thaf 
all our religious assemblies are composed of baptized church 
communicants and that all these communicants represented in 
full measure the realities of Christian experience, there would 
be no call for any type of preaching other than what may be 
designated as the pastoral type, whose aim is edification. But 



12 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

the miscellaneous character of our congregations conditions a 
call for two types of preaching. 

i. The nucleus of every religious assembly is a body of 
Christian worshippers. The audience is primarily a worship- 
ping congregation. Preaching must recognize that fact. It 
should have a liturgical quality. It should regard itself as a 
part of public worship. It should know itself as an offering 
of Christian faith and should aim at the promotion of a devout 
spirit and at furthering the interests of the worshipping assem- 
bly. We do not separate preaching from worship as we do not 
separate the preacher from the liturgist or the pastor. Even 
in mission preaching, we recognize the element of worship. 
No street preacher would detach his address from song and 
prayer and Scripture. The effectiveness of preaching, even 
its rhetorical effectiveness, is conditioned largely by its associa- 
tion with a Christian assembly, and by the influence of Chris- 
tian worship. Preaching is the better for the worship, and 
the worship for the preaching. In the best periods the close 
connection between preaching and worship, between the pulpit 
and the altar, has been recognized. Divorce between them has 
marked a degeneracy in both. Luther insisted that there 
should be no worship without preaching. "Where God's word 
is not preached, it is better neither to sing, nor pray, nor come 
together.'' Calvin laid stress upon the demand for preaching 
in connection with the Sacraments. These reformers recog- 
nized preaching as the centre of the worship. The value of 
worship was conditioned by preaching. We need to recog- 
nize the reverse as equally true. Preaching will be more 
simple aid sympathetic, more spiritual and earnest and practi- 
cal in its tone, more free and unconventional, in a word more 
Christian. Worship will dignify preaching and preaching will 
make worship more intelligent and real and substantial. In 
a word worship conditions devout preaching and preaching 
conditions intelligent worship. To make preaching and wor- 



CHRISTIAN CONCEPTION OF PREACHING 13 

ship mutually helpful is an important homiletic problem. 
Something is gained at the outset, to say the least, by recogniz- 
ing the fact that the liturgical interest is an important part of 
the homiletic problem, that preaching presupposes a Christian 
assembly and that it has for its object the promotion of the 
religious interests of that assembly. 

2. But the entire audience is almost never a Christian con- 
gregation in the full evangelical sense of the word. Hence 
preaching should have an evangelistic as well as pastoral 
quality. Evangelism is a homiletic problem. To win men to 
the Christian life is as truly the preacher's aim as to edify 
them in it. It is a false conception of preaching that would 
limit it to the edification of a Christian congregation and would 
rule out evangelism as a distinct and exceptional interest, 
never to find place in the ordinary church service. It is based 
upon the erroneous conception that the congregation must al- 
ways be a baptized community and that preaching is for it 
alone. The missionary element is essential to the complete 
Christian's conception of preaching. It should never be per- 
manently divorced from pastoral preaching. Men must be 
won as well as built. It is the commission of the church to 
present the Gospel through its servants to those who have not 
received it into their practical lives. It is not an exceptional 
work to be done by an exceptional class of men. It is not 
necessary to divide the congregation in a formal manner. The 
two types of preaching play into one another. Each influences 
those for whom it is not primarily designed. But failure to dis- 
tinguish between the two types and to recognize their dis- 
tinctive objects and aims is a serious failure. Evangelistic 
preaching will secure warmth and cogency to pastoral preach- 
ing and pastoral preaching will condition the permanent value 
of evangelistic preaching. Edification supports evangelism. 
Evangelism gives incentive to edification. 



14 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

IV. Christian Preaching as related to Form 
In material, spirit and aim, as is already apparent, Christian 
preaching has certain distinctive qualities. And even in 
method or form it demands some adaptation to these distinctive 
qualities, just as in substance it demands adaptation to Chris- 
tian thought and as in spirit and aim it demands adaptation to 
what is distinctive in Christian principle and character. But 
in its formal aspects in general, homiletics belongs to the 
department of rhetoric and Christian preaching is, as to its 
method, not substantially different from any secular oratorical 
product. 

I. The first rhetorical element demanding consideration is 
structural order. The sermon is an address to be heard and 
remembered. It must, therefore, have an orderly develop- 
ment. Otherwise it would not fully satisfy the demands of 
public address. It would lack rhetorical impressiveness. 
Religious themes call for elevated, comprehensive and orderly 
discussion. Unity of impression is dependent upon coherent 
exposition. Fragmentary and desultory discourse fails to 
meet the needs of our time and is unworthy of the great themes 
of religion. It is inadequate to the needs both of preacher 
and hearer. It is of course to be conceded that the preaching 
of the early church was artless, and yet it moved men. The 
discourse was delivered for the most part to small congrega- 
tions within a limited area and was a free, spontaneous, 
unartistic utterance. It was like a prayer meeting address or 
a Bible reading. Possibly there were more elaborate addresses. 
The tendency was increasingly in the direction of such ad- 
dresses. It is probable that the discourses commemorative of 
the martyrs, of which unfortunately we have no adequate 
record or illustration, promoted this tendency. But the dis- 
courses recorded in the New Testament, although probably 
inadequate to illustrate worthily apostolic preaching, are with- 
out rhetorical order. They did their work doubtless and met 



CHRISTIAN CONCEPTION OF PREACHING 15 

the needs of the time. But they are not models for a later 
age. Homiletics was an undeveloped science. In the changed 
relation of Christianity and of the church to the world at 
large, a better method was demanded. Patristic preaching 
was less unelaborate than apostolic preaching. Cyprian and 
Tertullian were orators. Origin marks another modification, 
Augustine and Chrysostom still another, all in the direction of 
a more orderly method. Without these changes preaching 
would not have done its work. Nor without orderly method 
will it do its work today. We are heirs to it. We are in re- 
action, it is true, against the stately elaborateness of our homi- 
letic ancestors, and greater simplicity of method is advocated. 
But simplicity is not incoherence. An effective pulpit demands 
something more than the homily. The mind is not at home in 
chaos. The heart as well as the mind craves an orderly world. 
Truth goes home along the lines of law. Orderly method is 
more than a rhetorical interest. True rhetorical interests sub- 
serve religious interests. There never was a time when 
effective preaching was in greater demand than now. There 
is as good a field as ever for the true preacher, and a rational 
method is one of the most important problems. No man can 
ignore the laws of the human soul and make his speech 
effective. 

2. Literary form is another rhetorical element in preaching. 
Preaching is not lecturing. The lecturer may use the language 
of science. The preacher uses the language of life. Preach- 
ing is for the average mind, not for the exceptionally trained 
mind; not for scholars, nor yet for children. It avoids the 
extreme of intellectual elaborateness on the one side and of 
intellectual condescension on the other. A preacher must 
reach his audience. It is his calling to do it. He can not do 
it without interpreting abstract thought in concrete form. 
Popular preaching is not vulgar preaching. There is a true 
and a false popular style. The preacher is an educator. He 



16 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

should respect the higher and the permanent interests of men. 
But within the limits of Christian propriety the pulpit should 
adjust itself to the capacity of the average man. The sermon 
is not a treatise, nor a lecture nor an essay, nor a prose poem. 
From all these it differs in its aim and so in its form. The 
ethical aim of the sermon forbids that it come in the language 
of the understanding wholly, that is, in a purely didactic form 
as the treatise or the lecture may, or in the structureless form 
of the essay or in the language of subjective emotion or senti- 
ment or fancy as the poem does. It combines the language 
of the understanding, of the emotions and of the imagination. 
This is the popular style, combining dignity, cogency and 
grace. Thus the sermon must be our ideal in the discussion of 
homiletic problems. The ideal of the lecture with its didactic 
substance addressed to the understanding, with its logical 
method and unemotional style whose chief mark is intellectual 
clearness, is inadequate. Inadequate is the ideal of the homily 
with its scriptural material, its structureless method, its free 
and unconventional style, whose mark is simplicity, speaking at 
once to the mind and the heart. Inadequate the hortation, 
with its emotional fervor, rapid movement and its concrete 
style. Inadequate the essay with its freedom and remote 
relatedness of thought, or the poem with its language of the 
imagination. But the sermon may incorporate elements that 
are common to them all. 

To recapitulate, the best type of preaching combines the 
Biblical, the representative, the personal, the liturgical, the 
evangelistic, the structural and the literary interest. Under- 
value the Biblical element and preaching will deteriorate. It 
will lose vitality. It will fail in religious aim and the religious 
interests of men will suffer. Undervalue the representative 
element and it will become capricious and irresponsible. 
Undervalue the personal element and it will lack in power of 
conviction and persuasion. Undervalue the liturgical element 



CHRISTIAN CONCEPTION OF PREACHING 17 

and it will fail to impress and edify the spiritual life. Under- 
value the evangelistic element and it will lack in directness and 
cogency. Undervalue the structural quality and it will fail in 
cumulative impression. Undervalue the popular elements of 
literary style and it will fail in concreteness and force. Com- 
bine these interests and we get the best results of pulpit speech. 



CHAPTER II 

THE AIM OF CHRISTIAN PREACHING 

The question of aim will constantly occur in our discussion 
of homiletic problems. It is one of the most important ques- 
tions with which the preacher must concern himself. Many 
qualities of good preaching are dependent upon it. The tone 
of a preacher and to a large extent his method are determined 
by his aim. And if the subject matter of one's preaching 
conditions the aim, it is equally true that the aim will be influ- 
ential in the choice of material. How can one know what to 
preach without an adequate conception of the general and the 
specific object of his preaching and without a worthy purpose 
with respect to his object? It is this practical significance of 
the question that sanctions a preliminary discussion of its 
importance. 

I. The Importance of Homiletic Aim 

i. The ethical significance of preaching suggests it. 
Preaching is a moral act. Something is to be accomplished. 
An impression is to be made. A result is to be achieved. 
Someone calls it a "word-act." Vinet calls it a "combat." 
Theremin calls it a "virtue." Without aim this ethical signifi- 
cance is ignored. The theory that preaching is merely the 
expression of a religious experience that is common to 
preacher and hearer, and that it may be left to take care of 
itself without any conscious aim in the preacher other than 
that of giving expression to the realities of his own inner life, 
is inadequate and misleading. The best type of preaching is 
conscious of its object. It purposes to make an impression 



THE AIM OF CHRISTIAN PREACHING 19 

and knows the impression it seeks. The preacher is bound to 
make himself effective. The study of his art is largely a study 
of his aim, and this is more than a matter of professional pride, 
it is a matter of moral moment. This ethical or impressional 
element gives preaching its distinctive place in the conduct of 
public worship. No other part of the public religious service 
is so conscious of its aim. Neither song nor prayer can be, or 
should be, so conscious of the impression it would make. It 
is true that every act of public worship may be measurably 
impressive in intent, otherwise it were not a proper object of 
criticism. But preaching seeks impression as no other liturgi- 
cal act does. It is bent on bringing something to pass. It 
is indeed a contest with man. Into no other service do we 
put so strong an ethical purpose. It is confessedly easily possi- 
ble to overdo it. But it may also be underdone. Aim then is 
one of the primal elements in all effective preaching. An aim 
at once broad and definite. Make the aim too broad and 
preaching will lack definiteness and directness. Make it too 
definite and it will lack scope. It will be narrow and may be 
superficial. It should be broad enough to be educative, and 
definite enough to be immediate and impressive ; broad enough 
to cover all types of preaching, all the complex moral and 
religious interests of the community, the church and the con- 
gregation, and all varieties of ability in the preacher, and defi- 
nite enough to be true to any specific type of preaching, to hit 
the specific needs of the community, the church or the congre- 
gation or of any particular class in the congregation, or 
possibly of a single person at a particular time, or to meet the 
demands of a particular truth or the needs of the preacher's 
own personality at any particular time. Breadth and range 
are essential to an educative pulpit. It will cover the complex 
needs of the community and the complex interests of truth. 
A non-educative pulpit will fail of its vocation. Reversely, 
definiteness is essential to immediate moral and religious re- 



20 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

suits. Breadth and definiteness, comprehensiveness and in- 
tensity find expression in corresponding types of preaching, 
the pastoral and the evangelistic types, and meet a double need. 
Pastoral preaching is comprehensive and educative. Evangelis- 
tic preaching is definite and intense. A proper blending of the 
two will secure range and vigor. It is not impossible measur- 
ably at least to harmonize the two qualities. Pastoral preach- 
ing may lack definiteness and fervor. Evangelistic preaching 
may lack in scope. It may be narrow. When each influences 
the other, the pastoral sermon will be the more vigorous in its 
directness, will squarely hit its mark because it has a mark to 
hit, and the evangelistic sermon will find a good background 
of solid Christian thought and a good foreground of compre- 
hensive, educative aim. It will have its setting in a broader 
thought and purpose that will carry it beyond the immediate 
impression and at the same time will not fail of such impres- 
sion. It is the ethical quality in preaching that accentuates 
the need of such combination. 

2. The rights of the congregation tax the preacher's pur- 
pose. The congregation is entitled to his respect. Its pres- 
ence involves certain legitimate expectations. No man respects 
its rights who preaches aimlessly. Nor can such a man win 
its respect. A public speaker, and especially a Christian 
preacher, can not safely ignore legitimate expectations. He 
speaks to intelligent moral beings. As such they have claims 
on him. A preacher should remember that he is a debtor to 
his audience. Responsibilities are of course reciprocal. For 
the audience is also a Christian congregation. But for the 
preacher that congregation is an audience. The congregation 
invites the minister to lead it in its worship. But the preacher 
invites the congregation to become an audience and to listen 
to him. He who does this should do it with a purpose. He 
should give them what it is important for them to hear and 
should show that, so far as depends on him, they shall hear 



THE AIM OF CHRISTIAN PREACHING 21 

and shall have the avail of it. He who preaches, preaches at 
something. A sermon that is good is good for something. 
There is no good that is good for nothing. An audience 
should never be over-taxed or disappointed in its confidence 
in the strength of a preacher's moral purpose. The hearer is 
entitled to know what the preacher means, what he is "driving 
at." It is claimed that the preaching of our day lacks aim. 
The truth of the charge may be questioned. There may be 
a lack of certain aims, but this does not prove it to be aimless. 
This charge is generally made by two classes of critics. They 
are both onesided in their estimate. The professional evan- 
gelist or revivalist criticises the preaching that does not aim in 
every sermon at immediate evangelistic results. For such 
preaching "the art of winning souls is a lost art." It is suffi- 
cient to reply that the evangelistic type of preaching is not 
broad enough to cover the entire field. It is doubtless true 
that there is a lack of evangelistic aim in even the best of our 
modern preaching. But there are other types of preaching 
and other aims than the evangelistic, and what the evangelistic 
field has lost the ethical field has won. The church dogmatist 
on the other hand criticises the preaching that lacks the dog- 
matic or doctrinal note. But preaching is not aimless just be- 
cause it fails to be apologetic of a particular type of theology. 
It is not the proper aim of preaching to prop or fortify any 
school of theology. Doctrine is an instrument, not an end. 
The man who works his truth and makes it available does not 
lack aim. But it is certainly true that in so far as the preacher 
of our day fails in any important aim or lacks in strength of 
moral purpose, he fails in respect for the truth and for his 
fellowmen. 

3. Exposure to detrimental influences that endanger the 
preacher's moral earnestness is a summons to renewal of moral 
purpose. The ethical quality of preaching is always threat- 
ened. Compromising influences are always at work. They 



22 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

vary with different periods, but are always a temptation to 
moral weakness. We find them in our day. They should put 
the preacher upon his guard. 

The influence of secularism threatens the moral fibre of the 
preaching of our day. Commercialism, of which we hear so 
much, is a dominating power that has crept into the church. 
The pulpit of a church that is commercialized is easily secular- 
ized. In nothing is the secular tendency so readily manifest 
as in the preacher's lack of moral purpose. No moral purpose 
in the preacher means the presence, even though unconscious 
or half-conscious, of an unworthy secularized purpose. The 
agnostic spirit endangers the moral power of the preacher. 
Preaching presupposes a positive basis. It deals with ascer- 
tained results. It is not tentative or speculative or uncertain, 
because it rests upon experimental truth. But the preacher 
who lives in a realm of uncertainty, who is always rationaliz- 
ing, always speculating and never reaching positive results, 
will preach vaguely and aimlessly. There will always be a lack 
of positiveness and definiteness about his work. A dominating 
literary spirit endangers the moral purpose of the preacher. 
The literary interest may compromise the ethical interest. 
The sermon may become an end. Any man who is more 
solicitous about the literary or artistic quality of the sermon 
than about its practical moral effectiveness will preach without 
a worthy moral aim. Preaching is indeed an art. But it is 
more. It is a moral achievement. Art is subordinate to aim. 
Or rather, aim is tributary to art. Moral purpose is one of 
the most important considerations in the true artistic charac- 
ter of a moral and religious address. The poet may speak for 
the love of speaking, or for the love of artistic expression, or 
with supreme reference to aesthetic impression. But the 
preacher must aim at a moral result. And this aim is in fact 
necessary to his art. 

4. Practical results accentuate the importance of moral 



THE AIM OF CHRISTIAN PREACHING 23 

aim in preaching. Strength of ethical purpose discloses itself 
in such results, results in the preacher and in his work. The 
effect on his personal and official manhood is manifest. The 
whole tone of the man with respect to his preaching in general 
and with respect to the individual sermon is affected. Such a 
man is not in the pulpit as by dire necessity, but because he 
has something to do there, and is "straitened until it be accom- 
plished." He will bear himself as one who means to have a 
hearing. Modestly of course, but in downright manly fashion. 
One's moral purpose affects the whole tone of his manhood. 
It purines, enriches and greatens his whole life. Such a man 
can be neither a conceited pedant nor a fawning sycophant, but 
a straight-forward manly man. 

The effect on one's work will be equally notable. It will 
condition the range of one's preaching. It will rule out all 
matter and all method that are inharmonious with the highest 
Christian conception of preaching. Moral purpose is an im- 
portant factor in good rhetoric and oratory. The element of 
will in public speech might well receive more attention than it 
has received. A strong, steadfast, immanent purpose will lift 
the tone of a man's entire inner life, mental and emotional, 
and he will be the more effective as a public speaker, if he have 
the gift of public speech at all. The words of Phillips Brooks* 
touching the demand for cheerfulness, hopefulness, earnestness 
and reality in the preacher are golden words. It is precisely this 
strong ethical purpose that is associated with these qualities. 
It will influence his method. The preaching of such a man 
starts with the conviction and assumption that it is "worth 
just what it effects." Such a preacher is interested in his work 
not speculatively, but practically; not as related supremely 
to thought but to life. The man who holds the theory that 
he has no responsibility with respect to the results of his 



*Yale Lectures on Preaching. Chap. VIII. "The Value of the 
Human Soul." 



24 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

preaching, who simply says his say and lets come of it what 
will, will preach aimlessly. Such a man can never fully an- 
swer the question, "Why do I preach?" The truth is not an 
end but an instrument. This conviction will influence a man 
in his method of handling his material. It will not be a per- 
formance in mental gymnastics. It will be full of warmth 
and energy and will shape itself into good, effective rhetorical 
and oratorical form. It will be a vigorous instrument for the 
enforcement of the truth. 

II. The Central and Inclusive Homiletic Aim 
Preaching is only one of the many methods of applying 
Christianity to the needs of men and as to its object it does 
not differ substantially from other agencies. They all have 
the same general object. Comprehensively stated the aim of 
the preacher is the rescue and reconstruction of manhood. It 
assumes that men need to be delivered from the dominating 
lower life of the flesh, to be rescued to the higher life of the 
spirit, and to be shaped into a spiritual manhood. Concretely 
stated it is to win men to Christ, and to build them into his 
moral completeness. 

i. Note here a recognition of the individual and social factors 
in the work. The rescue and reconstruction are not wholly of 
individual men in their isolation from their fellows, but of men 
in their associate life. It is the building in and the building 
up of men into the body of Christ. We can not stop short 
of this in our statement, and we cannot get beyond it. 
Redemption as a work of rescue and of rebuilding must recog- 
nize these two factors, which after all are practically one. The 
preacher's object can not be the recovery and edification of a 
few elect individual men. No man ever finds completeness in 
himself. The aim of preaching is ultimately the completion 
of the body of Christ, or the completion of the kingdom of 
God, or the completion of humanity. We come to the perfect 



THE AIM OF CHRISTIAN PREACHING 25 

man, to the perfect stature in Christ, only in our associate 
life. Men must be won to a common life and built up together 
in it. "And He gave some to be apostles, and some prophets 
and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers, for the 
perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering, unto 
the building up of the body of Christ, till we all attain unto the 
unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, 
unto a full grown man, unto the measure of the stature of the 
fulness of Christ." * 

2. Note here once more also a recognition of the two 
actually existing classes in the congregation, i. e., those to be 
won and those already won who are to be educated and trained. 
The existence of these two classes creates corresponding de- 
mands upon the preacher. We can not deny their existence, 
and we can not ignore their claims. The preacher should 
know with whom he deals, and should shape his preaching 
with reference to actual needs, otherwise he will preach aim- 
lessly. The ordinary congregation is not composed wholly 
of baptized persons, or of those who by virtue of their baptism 
are assumed to be Christians in the high and worthy sense, and 
who, therefore, need only nurture and training. The object 
of such preaching could only be to conserve and develop this 
assumed already existing Christian life. Its object would be 
edification in the restricted sense. This false assumption and 
the object based upon it would be false to the facts and inade- 
quate to the needs of the congregation. It would substitute 
a part for the whole complex aim of preaching. Such preach- 
ing might easily become formal and perfunctory. It would not 
deal with living men as they actually are before the preacher, 
and it would become unfruitful. There is no building up 
without building in. But of course preaching should not be 
prevailingly hortatory. We exhort men that they may be 
persuaded. But after persuasion — what? The evangelistic 

*Eph. 4: 12, 13. 



26 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

type of preaching can never be final. It would defeat its own 
aim and prove fruitless in the end. "Winning souls" in 
the narrow and sometimes unreal sense can never be 
ultimate. The soul is not saved in the full Christian sense 
till it is developed and trained into the completeness possible 
for it. 

3. Note further that this comprehensive conception of the 
object of Christian preaching finds place for all the elements 
involved in the complete conception of Christian preaching 
itself. Augustine, following substantially the classical rhetori- 
cians and orators, thus comprehensively states the object of 
Christian preaching; "The Christian orator ought to teach, 
to please, to persuade; to teach so as to instruct, to please so 
as to hold, to persuade so as to overcome. Teaching for the 
purpose of instruction secures intelligent hearing; pleasing 
for the purpose of holding secures free listening; persuading 
for the purpose of overcoming secures the obedient mind, 
heart, conscience, will." No better statement of the aim and 
characteristics of true Christian preaching could be made. 
The obedient mind, heart, conscience, will — this is the ultimate 
aim. To bring the whole man under the sway of the truth, 
through the forces of personality and of truth that play 
through human speech. All the elements of effective speech 
are necessary to secure this result. The adjustment of these 
elements, with which Augustine undertook to deal, in order to 
achieve the result, is a rhetorical question with which we need 
not now concern ourselves. Just here it is pertinent simply to 
suggest that these elements ultimately resolve themselves into 
the didactic and persuasive elements of speech, and, as we shall 
see, they are both necessary to the work of rescuing and build- 
ing men. To teach, to impress, to persuade men by the power 
of the truth and of personality, the organ of truth, thus to 
bring the whole manhood, mind, heart, conscience, will, under 
the sway of truth and of the spirit of truth, — this is to rescue 



THE AIM OF CHRISTIAN PREACHING 27 

men and to build them into Christian manhood. This is re- 
demption. And this is the end of the preacher's work. 

4. Note finally that we have here an adequate recognition 
of the full significance of edification as the object of the 
preacher's work. This notion of building is a New Testament 
conception and is used somewhat variously. Let us look at it 
in its relation to the work of preaching in its comprehensive 
significance, following somewhat closely the natural and ety- 
mological suggestiveness of the word. The first thing sug- 
gested is an ideal to be realized. Building presupposes a plan, 
a pattern, an ideal. Culture in its highest conception is the 
building of manhood after a pattern. Christian culture pre- 
supposes a Christian ideal, a Christian pattern, after which 
the work proceeds. With this ideal the preacher deals. It is 
his task to exalt, to advocate and to apply this ideal. For the 
individual man this ideal, this pattern, this standard is the per- 
fection of Christ. Preaching is the advocacy, and its aim the 
production of a Christian manhood after the type of Christ. 
For the community of individuals, for the church, for human- 
ity collectively, the ideal is the kingdom of God. The final 
purpose of the church is the realization of the ideal of a divine 
society; i.e., the building together of humanity into a social 
organism, after the pattern of a heavenly society. The ulti- 
mate object of Christian preaching, therefore, is the spiritual 
unity, — completeness and effectiveness of the church or of the 
kingdom of God, which the church represents. 

The second factor in this conception is the winning of the 
material to be built. The material to be built is men. They 
must be won before they can be built. They may be won 
gradually, and unconsciously to themselves. But somehow 
they must be won. They must be illumined, awakened, 
changed in their moral dispositions, in a word won to Christ, 
before they can be started aright and before they can be de- 
veloped and trained into moral and spiritual manhood, or be- 



28 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

fore the processes of moral and spiritual development can go 
most successfully on. The process of edification, therefore, 
in so far as it involves the winning of material, the right start- 
ing point, the right foundation of the spiritual structure, 
includes all that is contained in the terms conversion and re- 
generation as the initial point. This lifting of manhood out of 
dominance to the lower life of the flesh, this modification of 
the moral and spiritual manhood, which is called the new birth, 
is the proper ground for edification into the manhood of 
Christ. What has been called the process of sanctification is 
only the process of continued growth into the completeness 
of moral and spiritual manhood, which rests upon the founda- 
tion of a moral charge. Preaching is, of course, only one of 
the agencies through which the start is made. It takes a great 
many moral agencies to renew men. But the work of the 
preacher is prominent. It deals with all those truths, those 
principles, those impulses and incentives that start character 
aright. 

A third factor is the process by which the building work 
goes on from its starting-point and by which the ideal is 
ultimately realized. It is a process of development in sym- 
metrical upreach and outreach of Christian character till the 
full pattern is realized. Again preaching is only one of the 
agencies in the process, but it contributes much to the develop- 
ment of such height and range and symmetry of Christian 
character as brings manhood to its ultimate goal. It deals 
therefore, as already indicated, with the whole man, mind, 
conscience, heart, will. Men grow strongly, broadly, sym- 
metrically only as religion touches the mental, moral and spirit- 
ual manhood. The process includes also the growth of the 
whole body of Christ into the unity and completeness of organ- 
ized life. 

But the final factor is the instruments or agencies employed 
in the building work. There are many agencies but they in- 



THE AIM OF CHRISTIAN PREACHING 29 

elude various types of preaching. Edification as the aim of 
preaching in the broader sense accentuates the demand for 
comprehensiveness in the work and so rescues it from a narrow 
provincialism and one-sidedness. Two instruments especially 
are employed in the work of preaching. They are — to use 
Phillips Brooks' terms — truth and personality. In other 
words the agencies or methods of preaching employed are 
teaching and persuasion. And this brings us back once more 
from another point of departure to the two chief factors in 
preaching, to which reference has already been made. Let us 
consider them a little more fully. 

The work of building character presupposes a didactic 
foundation. Foundations must be solid. We build character 
on solid truth. Preaching presupposes the interpreting of 
truth to the mind and conscience. At the outset edification 
is not other than education. The truth that builds up Chris- 
tian character must be Christian truth. Growth into the 
likeness of Christ is the product of preaching Christ. 
Such preaching deals with the person, the teaching, the work 
of Christ. Christ the source, the inspiration, the pattern and 
the aim of all Christian life. The entire message of the Gos- 
pel is summed up in Christ. Christ only can build into Christ- 
likeness. The personality of Christ and his message must be 
interpreted. The preacher is fundamentally an interpreter, an 
interpreter of God, of man, of life, of Providence, of history 
in the light of revelation, and of all human life in the light of 
redemption. But above all he is the interpreter of Jesus 
Christ. He is primarily a prophet, not a priest. Christ's 
preaching was largely teaching — the interpretation of spirit- 
ual realities. So was apostolic preaching. Paul was pre- 
eminently a teacher of religion. The prominence of the 
element of truth and of teaching in the work of preaching 
accentuates the need of an intelligent building of character. 
It is claimed that Christianity is the only religion that has 



30 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

been or can be successfully taught, and that, therefore, it is 
the only successful character-building religion. It appeals to 
human intelligence. Men were impressed with the words of 
wisdom that fell from the lips of Jesus. Solid character must 
have an intelligent foundation. Paul discredited an over- 
emotional type of preaching, and gave preference to the word 
of instruction on the ground that it edifies character. His 
bishop must be "didaktikos" — "apt to teach." He who aims 
at the production of an intelligent religious life in his preaching 
will appeal to the intelligence of men. This is the condition 
of permanent success. Intelligent conviction is the basis of 
solid character. Perversities of understanding abound in our 
day. Men are precommitted in wrong mental judgments as 
well as in wrong moral bias, and all this renders the preacher's 
task the harder. It is sometimes said that men know the truth 
better than they obey it. This is measurably true. But the 
fact is that there is a vast amount of wrong headedness, even 
among Christian people, as well as wrong heartedness. But 
what sort of truth is edifying truth? Not all truth is edifying, 
simply because it is truth. Not all preachers have learned 
this. The impracticable preacher, who is always the unedify- 
ing preacher, is the one who fails to adjust his truth to the 
condition of his hearers. There must be a certain corre- 
spondence between the truth presented and the state of the 
hearer, just as there must be a correspondence between the 
material that goes into a building and the character and design 
of the building. Men are edified when the truth presented is 
fitted to their needs. The matter of a discourse may be true 
and its presentation good, but it must find the hearer, it must 
come home to him, or he is not edified. The homespeaking 
truth is the truth that meets a real need. 

The work of edification presupposes an influence upon the 
heart and will as well as upon the mind. Teaching presup- 
poses the power of truth. Persuasion presupposes the power 



THE AIM OF CHRISTIAN PREACHING 31 

of personality. Preaching includes not only the instrumental- 
ity of truth but the effort of a living man. Truth and life. 
There is no edification without persuasion. Men are neither 
won nor built, neither built in nor built up without speech that 
goes out of the intellectual into the emotional, affectional and 
volitional parts of a man. That is not preaching that ends in 
an appeal to the mind only. "We persuade men," persuade as 
well as teach. The building is of human character. Growth 
presupposes life. It presupposes the impelling energy of a 
soul moved to its depths, if it will move other souls. Here 
too, the principle of correspondence is necessary. There must 
be a certain common ground between the speaker and the 
hearer, as well as harmony between the quality of truth and the 
needs of the hearer. We are not edified by what is strange 
and foreign. A sort of Christian mind must be created be- 
fore edification is possible. Men must become measurably 
familiar with the truths and facts of Christianity before they 
do their best work. The home truths are not the strange and 
unfamiliar truths. The old truths intelligently and freshly 
interpreted edify. And the old truths come home to us in the 
language of common life, language that is familiar in its 
imagery and its terminology. Men are not edified by a strange 
and to them barbarous speech. To produce a state 
of mind in the hearer corresponding to the preacher's 
state of mind, the forces of his personality must find 
a language instrument fit to translate and to transmit 
these forces and so to impart themselves that they will awaken 
what is correspondent in the soul of the hearer. It is this 
element of persuasion that marks the distinction between 
teaching and preaching. Teaching is a factor in preaching, 
but it is not the only one. We teach that men may know. We 
preach that they be and do. In teaching the ethical factor 
is indirect and remote. In preaching it is direct and imme- 
diate. The sermon is not for itself, not for its theology, not 



32 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

for the intelligence and culture of its hearers, but for the pro- 
duction of character and the regulation of conduct. The best 
didactic preaching, therefore, which aims at edification will be 
persuasive. Just here is the unique power of the pulpit. The 
press can teach. But it is only the living man that can preach. 
When teaching is vitalized by the power of an earnest sympa- 
thetic human soul, it becomes persuasive, and may be well 
nigh irresistible. It is the truth that is borne along the cur- 
rents of human feeling that subdues the souls of men. It must 
be presented with a tone of cheerfulness and hopefulness. 
The great hopes of the Gospel rally the preacher to a conta- 
gious enthusiasm. Its lofty tone of authority summons him 
also to a tone of moral certitude answering to it. Preaching is 
not persuasive in proportion as it lacks moral conviction and 
purpose. It appeals with assurance to the human conscience 
and heart and will. The persuasive preacher is a modest and 
devout man, but he does not potter with uncertainties, nor 
give away his case. He speaks with the authority of positive 
conviction. Christianity can not be persuasively presented if 
the preacher allows himself or his message to be patronized by 
the high and mighty democratic and agnostic twentieth century. 



CHAPTER III 

THE GIFTS OF THE PREACHER 

There are certain qualities in every preacher, certain gifts, 
on which the success of his work depends. They are gifts of 
nature and of grace, developed by assiduous culture. The 
man who undertakes to preach must have some of them or 
he is no preacher. But an ideal combination of these gifts 
has of course never been realized. There is no ideal 
preacher, never has been and never will be. Indeed it is diffi- 
cult, if not impossible, to conceive the ideally-gifted preacher. 
There are many conceivable ideals. To combine them all 
into one supreme type, and to conceive of them as realized in 
any one man is an impracticable, not to say an impossible 
mental task. The best preachers represent different types. 
They suggest typical ideals, correspondent, but they hardly 
suggest the possibility, even ideally of combining them all 
into one supreme type. No one man has ever combined all 
the gifts of the great preacher. Augustine must have com- 
bined many of them in generous measure. Tertullian, Cyp- 
rian, Chrysostom and the Cappadocians in larger measure. 
The classic preachers of the Gallic Church, Bossuet, Bour- 
daloue, Massillon and Saurin among the Protestants, Luther 
among the Germans, and among the moderns, Robertson 
and Beecher — all these were great preachers. But how 
varied and how different their gifts, so varied and so different 
that their points of contrast are quite as striking as their 
points of likeness. But it is not necessary that one possess 
the gifts of these great masters, either in degree or in type 
of combination, in order to be a respectable preacher. It is 



34 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

not necessary to be a great preacher in order to be a preacher 
at all. The work of the church is done and well done by- 
ordinary men. It is only the elect few that possess many 
and great gifts for preaching and in well-balanced combina- 
tion. The larger number have but few and meagre gifts, 
and yet they are not without success in teaching and persuad- 
ing men. Our task at present is the consideration of some of 
those qualities that are highly important for any preacher 
and that may be cultivated. 

I. Classification of Gifts 

i. Mental gifts. The preacher, as we have seen, is an 
interpreter. It is his task to make intelligible and to vindi- 
cate the rationality and moral value of what he proclaims to 
be the truth. The interpreter must succeed in interpreting. 
He must have the requisite mental gifts for his task. Many 
and varied intellectual gifts are desirable in a preacher. But 
there is a certain group of qualities that is of preeminent 
importance. That the preacher should be a dialectician as 
well as a rhetorician was Luther's estimate of his requisite 
intellectual equipment. Luther meant that he should com- 
bine power to think discriminatingly, connectedly and funda- 
mentally with power to express his thought in effective popu- 
lar speech. As a rational thinker he must speak convinc- 
ingly to the mind and as an effective orator he must speak 
persuasively to the emotions and will. Mental discrimina- 
tion, mental coherence, and mental range should be combined 
with vivid imagination, fervid emotion and practical tact. 
This answers to the two chief demands of the audience that 
the preacher do justice to the subject and to the object of the 
discussion. The dialectician will do justice to his subject. 
The rhetorician will do justice to his object. The one will 
convince by a thorough grasp and handling of his theme, the 
other will persuade by a complete identification of himself 



THE GIFTS OF THE PREACHER 35 

with his audience and by an effective style of address. We 
are dealing now with those mental gifts that are requisite for 
the presentation of the subject. Of course we need not insist 
upon using Luther's term dialectician, nor undertake to vin- 
dicate the claim that it should stand for all that Luther would 
have put into it. The scholastic dialectician does not get a 
hearing in our day. But let us put our own meaning into 
the term. Dialectic gifts may stand for mental discrimina- 
tion, mental coherence, and mental range, for the requisite 
sharpness of mind to distinguish the elements of thought in 
a subject, for the requisite logical power to relate the thought 
of the subject and for the requisite power to grasp the prin- 
ciples of the subject fundamentally. It is certainly desirable 
that the preacher have these mental qualities and that he 
cultivate them assiduously. Let us consider them for a 
moment. Mental discrimination. The preacher has to 
make himself intelligible to the average audience. Whatever, 
therefore, the quality of his thought, it must be clear and dis- 
criminating. It may be subtle or it may be obvious and near 
at hand, it may be ingenious or it may be commonplace, it 
may be suggestive or it may be exhaustive, it may be pene- 
trating or it may be discursive, it may be intuitive or it may 
be argumentative, it may be imaginative or it may be philo- 
sophical — whatever the quality of the thought it should have 
the element of clarity in an eminent degree. No man can 
vindicate his vocation to interpret Christian truth to human 
intelligence, if he cannot make himself intelligible. The 
prophet must succeed in getting his message out without 
obfuscating his hearers. He must speak straight. His func- 
tion as messenger and the character of his message demand 
it. A foggy preacher is not a preacher. What a man is 
summoned to make clear should not be muddled. The 
truths of religion are important and they are not easy to 
handle. The preacher owes it to his audience, to his subject, 



36 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

to his vocation and to himself that he train himself in habits 
of clear, discriminating thinking to the utmost of his power. 
Without such thinking no audience can be permanently, and 
in the highest degree, profited. Especially if a preacher has 
anything that he regards as new to present, and which his 
hearers should clearly understand, is he beholden to them to 
clear it up or let some one else undertake it, or wait until he 
is able at least to speak intelligently. It is unfortunate that 
much of what calls itself "new theology" is unintelligible, 
even to those who are not inhospitable to it. If this quality 
of unintelligibleness were inherent in the theology itself it 
would discredit it. But if it is in its advocacy, it discredits 
the preacher. Any new theological movement in the 
churches is a summons to the preacher to exceptionally clear 
thinking and clear speaking. The members of our churches 
have a right to know what a preacher is "driving at." We 
do not think of John Calvin as a great preacher. He was not 
an orator. Nor was he a rhetorician. He met only a single 
aspect of Luther's conception of a preacher. But he met 
that with conspicuous success. It was not merely that he 
was a master of dialetic. He was master of what it stands 
for. In a wonderful measure he had the gift of mental per- 
spicacity. It was a substitute for the gifts of the rhetorician 
and orator. His preaching was a notable triumph of the 
Christian understanding. There is of course more than one 
way of realizing the homiletic virtue of intellectual perspi- 
cacity. Preachers, who, unlike Calvin, present the truth 
suggestively, or illustratively, rather than analytically or 
dialectically, may be clear preachers. It is not the clearness of 
scientific exactness or definiteness but of rhetorical lumi- 
nousness. The most effective modern preachers are of this 
type. But, however it may be realized, perspicuity is the 
demand. 

With mental discrimination is associated the power to 



THE GIFTS OF THE PREACHER 37 

hold thought in its logical relations. An address de- 
mands connated and coherent thought. An essay may be 
fragmentary and remote in its relations of thought. An 
address must have a manifest unity. To discuss a subject in 
a public address is to unfold it in its logical relations. It is 
to discover the different centres or groups of thought that 
lie hidden beneath the subject and to bring them out to view. 
This demands the training of the consecutive thinker. A 
writer of pulpit essays is not the best type of preacher. No 
one can successfully interpret Christian truth who fails to 
present it in its inner connections of thought in the form of 
a connected address. With all this is still further connected 
the power to grip a subject fundamentally, to grasp its essen- 
tial principles, to trace it in its wide ranging and fundamental 
relations. The best type of interpretation consists in grasp- 
ing the central principle of a truth and in showing how it 
ranges in various realms of experience. The best preachers 
of our day deal thus with the fundamental principles of Chris- 
tian truth, and take them out for illustration into various 
spheres of human life. This capacity of mental insight, of 
mental coherence, and of mental grasp and range may be 
cultivated. He who would vindicate his vocation as an inter- 
preter will not fail to do it. 

2. Emotional gifts. Sympathy is the fundamental emo- 
tional quality that is requisite. The true preacher is preemi- 
nently a man of fellow feeling. The gift of sympathy is the 
capacity of self-identification with objects external to our- 
selves. Turned Godward it becomes the prophetic gift. It 
is by the power of sympathy that the prophet becomes con- 
sciously identified with God. It is more than mental self- 
identification. It is through the consciousness of moral and 
emotional as well as mental alliance with God that the 
prophet appropriates and becomes identified with his mes- 
sage. It is this consciousness that is involved in the estate 



38 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

of prophetic inspiration. Any man who is intelligently con- 
scious of fellowship with God, 'who recognizes the truth he 
preaches as having its source in God, and who is thoroughly 
committed to it, as his message, speaks for God, and such a 
man knows something of the prophetic spirit. Such a man 
will not fail to speak with power. There will be the ring of 
reality in his utterance. The more strongly the truth, re- 
demptive truth, as related to personal beings, gets hold of a 
man, the more masterful he will be. To recognize the truth 
as God's, something held in trust to be communicated to 
one's fellowmen, to know that one enters into sympathetic 
alliance with God's great purposes, that one thinks God's 
thoughts of mercy after Him, and that in uttering them he 
gives God's message, this is a condition of moral power in 
the preacher's work. Christian oratory of the highest sort 
has a basis not unlike that of dramatic art. The power of 
the dramatic actor is in the fact that he is for the time 
identified with the character he impersonates. In ef- 
fect he is that character. He who reaches his fellow- 
men must leave the impression that he is completely 
identified with what he claims to represent. His speech 
should have an earnestness and reality correspondent to 
the weight and importance of what he says. The man who 
speaks in the enthusiasm of a great inspiration may make mis- 
takes. The spirit of the prophet is not always subject to 
the prophet. But it is far better to make mistakes than 
in one's unsympathy to leave the impression of moral 
unreality. 

But not until sympathy is turned manward does it realize 
the full measure of its power. It becomes preeminently an 
oratorical requisite. The preacher moves men by entering 
into their needs with an intelligent sympathy. He has the 
capacity to be wrought upon on the one side by the truth 
presented, and on the other side by the human beings to 



THE GIFTS OF THE PREACHER 39 

whom it is presented. The more a man loves his fellowmen, 
the more he can be moved by them and, other requisites 
given, the more he can move them. True oratorical feeling 
is reproductive. We move men by sharing the state of mind 
that we wish to produce in them. The true preaching 
impulse is the impulse of a loving mind. The special pleader, 
the arrogant dogmatist, the man who loves himself, or who 
loves his opinions, more than he loves his fellowmen, cannot 
be a true preacher. He may be a stalwart pulpiteer, but he 
lacks the sympathies of a preacher. I do not say that a 
preacher must be a man of quick and fiery emotion. Some 
of the great preachers of the church have indeed been such. 
But sympathy has many ways of expressing itself. In some 
way, however, it must make itself felt or no man can move 
his fellowmen. It is not enough to have it, one must impart 
it. Sympathy is the source of homiletic tact. Tact is sus- 
ceptibility to another's touch, the sense of touch, thence 
capacity to touch others, that is, capacity or facility of self- 
adjustment or self adaptation of such sort as enables 
one to touch others. The basis of this susceptibility is 
sympathy. He who is susceptible to impressions from 
others, because he loves them, is the one who with skill will 
adjust himself to them. The most earnest and devoted and 
effective preachers tell us that they cannot grip the souls of 
their hearers without a feeling of sympathy that is a great 
compassionate yearning of heart for them. That Paul was 
able to "become all things to all men" is a disclosure of his 
homiletic tact, whose source was sympathy. He identified 
himself with men and adjusted himself to them that he might 
win them. This is not a matter of mental skill merely, of 
intellectual nimbleness. It is a matter of fellow-feeling. 
The homiletic impulse is a combination of the didactic and 
the sympathetic impulse. To the intellectual impulse to 
impart to others the truth that has become a conscious per- 



40 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

sonal treasure, in order that they may share the treasure, is 
added the impulse of sympathetic' feeling that desires spiritual 
fellowship. Trained Christian feeling is far more important 
in the work of the preacher than may at first appear. With 
the sympathetic spirit is naturally associated the optimistic 
spirit. Love is optimistic. A loving estimate of men in- 
volves the necessity of idealizing them. Christian optimism is 
precisely the love that "believeth all things" and "hopeth all 
things." And this is the basis of a cheerful spirit. Cheer- 
fulness is not wholly a matter of temperament. It may be 
cultivated, and it needs culture. Men need the uplifting 
power of cheerful, hopeful preaching. There is nothing 
better to say of any man than that he is an uplifting, helpful 
preacher. And this may be said of the best preachers of our 
day. They are men who not only bring to their tasks a 
hopeful and cheerful Gospel, but who bring hopeful and 
cheerful souls. A preacher who indulges in low and de- 
pressing views of human nature or of human life, and who 
brings any touch of the pessimistic spirit into the pulpit is 
foredoomed to failure. Of course that light-headed and 
light-hearted optimism that ignores the sin and misery of 
life has no place in the Christian pulpit. Preaching that 
treats lightly the solemn realities of life will be unfruitful. 
But redemption is the stock of the preacher's message, and 
he who does not know it in all its grandeur and who is not 
lifted by it into a great height of noble Christian feeling is 
not the man the world is looking for. With cheerfulness and 
hopefulness is allied courage, strong-heartedness. He who 
is profoundly sympathetic with and hopeful for his fellowmen 
will hold tenaciously to the tasks of his beneficence. The 
real preacher has always been bold to speak what was given 
him to speak. In his love of men and of the truth he pro- 
claims he has always been able to forget himself. The trim- 
mer, the man who is always on the lookout for personal 



THE GIFTS OF THE PREACHER 41 

consequences, will never make an influential, effective or suc- 
cessful preacher. 

3. Spiritual gifts. No unique spiritual qualities that dif- 
ferentiate him from other men, are needed in the Christian 
preacher, or should be expected of him. All Christian 
graces and virtues are tributary to his equipment. But 
some are doubtless more closely identified than others with 
that peculiar spiritual power for which the pulpit stands, and 
it is rightly assumed that the preacher will possess them in 
more than ordinary measure. For example, what Dr. Bush- 
nell calls the "faith talent" is preeminently the preacher's 
gift. It is this that holds him in open vision of invisible and 
spiritual realities. Faith is spiritual insight. It is this that 
lifts one above the things that are seen and temporal. The 
realization and the interpretation of super-sensuous realities 
are possible only to a cultured Christian faith. The germinal 
spiritual gift, in which are contained all best emotional gifts, 
is love, and it is the culture of the affections that conditions 
persuasive preaching. Reverence too as of one who deals 
with the august realities of God, of the human soul, and of 
the eternal life, is a quality that conditions the most weighty 
and impressive type of speech. But the point to be empha- 
sized here is that these spiritual qualities do not appear 
directly in the preacher's pulpit work. They are all neces- 
sary to develop the gifts of nature upon which, as thus 
developed, the effectiveness of preaching depends. And the 
spiritual factor in quickening native preaching gifts needs 
emphasis. There is no mere "clerus naturalis." It is the 
supernatural or spiritual factor that exalts nature into a fit 
instrument for the service of God. Hence the New Testa- 
ment everywhere gives prominence to the gifts of grace. Its 
preaching is a charism. A charism is a gift in which grace 
blends with nature and which, because it adopts and domi- 
nates nature, receives the emphasis. There is no effort to 



42 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

discriminate between nature and grace or to differentiate 
them. Here, as everywhere, the religious point of view takes 
precedence and the gifts of nature are manifest in the higher 
light of their consecration. This is a fact worthy of most 
serious consideration as related to the culture of preaching 
power. It is impossible to fix a limit to the power of grace 
in its development of the gifts of nature. To divorce the 
gifts of nature from the gifts of grace would impoverish the 
pulpit. 

4. Rhetorical gifts. A full discussion of rhetorical cul- 
ture would include the consideration of all those mental gifts 
— gifts of imagination, feeling, affection, will — and of all 
those moral and spiritual qualities, whose culture lies behind 
all most effective pulpit utterance. These gifts are all neces- 
sary to the interpretation of religious thought and to its 
persuasive presentation. They are all significant for differ- 
ent types of preaching and for different qualities of literary 
style. The treatise is yet to be written that shall do full jus- 
tice to this subject. But it is the present task simply to 
direct attention to a few important rhetorical virtues which 
any preacher should possess and cultivate. 

And first I suggest the ability to transmute the material of 
thought, whatever its quality or source, into sermon pabu- 
lum. I mean, in a word, capacity for moral and religious 
ideas, capacity to turn one's mental resources toward homi- 
letic aims. I call it a rhetorical gift, for the form of one's 
thought lies back of the form of its expression. The preach- 
ing gift is largely a gift for coining thought in the mint of 
the moral and religious nature. All great preachers have 
shown this facility for turning thought into moral and relig- 
ious uses fitted to the practical needs of men. It is mental 
productiveness as stimulated by moral and religious impulse, 
and held within the moral and religious domain. It is intelli- 
gence vitalized by ethical and spiritual energy. It is a form 



THE GIFTS OF THE PREACHER 43 

of the so-called homiletic mind. It is more than the teach- 
ing impulse. It is the impulse to turn the truth to practical 
advantage. There are minds that work productively and 
clearly. But they lack the preacher's tact and facility to 
develop and apply the truth to ethical and religious interests. 
The real preacher is the man who habituates himself to the 
turning of all truth into preachable forms and who acquires 
facility in it. 

Ability to translate abstract thought into concrete forms is 
another rhetorical requisite, forms adapted to the habit and 
capacities of the average mind, and thus fitted for effective 
use. A preacher should know theology, for theology is the 
mental form of religion and is, or should be in some large 
measure, the preacher's subject matter. But theologizing is 
not preaching. The thinker must be a speaker. It is not 
easy to think abstractly and to speak concretely. It is a 
difficult task to form the habit of thinking scientifically and 
at the same time to form the habit of turning one's thinking 1 
into a popular rhetorical form. But precisely this is the 
preacher's problem and he who cannot master it will not be 
a preacher. 

Facility of speech is another rhetorical gift, ability to use 
language freely as well as clearly, correctly and forcibly. 
There is doubtless a great difference in preachers in this re- 
gard. Some have a native gift for speech, and easily train 
themselves into facility in its use. Others, although not 
without a slumbering capacity for it, seem to attain to it as 
by the hardest. What is said of Canon Mozley leads us to 
infer that he belonged to the latter class. He was not a 
gifted preacher in the sense that he had not the gifts that 
condition popular impression, although he was the writer of 
profoundly impressive sermons. He was slow in overcom- 
ing the barriers that seemed to hinder freedom of utterance. 
But he is an inspiration to any preacher who knows himself 



44 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

as slow of speech and is willing- to do hard work. For he 
attained not only to great productiveness of thought but to 
notable facility of expression, although it was not of the pop- 
ular type. On the other hand there are those whom we call 
"natural preachers." Mr. Spurgeon was one. Many of 
the Scotch, Welsh and French preachers are such. They 
have clearness of thought, earnestness of purpose, an impulse 
to interpret the truth to the mind and apply it to moral uses, 
and facility of expression. This is the outfit of the "natural 
preacher." One who is thoroughly deficient in these gifts 
will not make a successful preacher. This is especially true 
of one who has no handling of his mother tongue and cannot 
express his thoughts with ease and facility. 

II. Culture of Gifts 

Two practical suggestions are my only contribution to this 
topic : 

i. It were well for every preacher to cultivate assiduously 
his ow T n most distinctive and individual qualities. Every real 
preacher has his own strong points, which nature and grace 
alike invite him to train. In one class of preachers the in- 
tellectual activities are prominent. Their intellectual move- 
ments are nimble, penetrative, intuitive, gripping promptly 
the heart of a subject, or they are discursive, dialectical, specu- 
lative, grasping a subject in its wholeness or in its implica- 
tions. The preaching of such men will inevitably bear their 
distinctive mark. The teaching quality will be prominent, and 
their success will lie in this line. In another class the ethical 
qualities predominate. The ethical as distinguished from the 
didactic aspects of the truth solicit such preachers. Such 
men are effective in impressing the moral judgments and im- 
pulses of their hearers. The man who is strong in his own 
moral impulses will inevitably be an ethical preacher. In 
another class imagination, or sentiment, or affection or feel- 



THE GIFTS OF THE PREACHER 45 

ing abounds. Such men will be rhetorically impressive 
preachers. They will have skill in stimulating the feelings of 
their hearers, or in chastening their sentiments or affections 
or in influencing them to action. Thus we have different 
types of preachers according not only to the demands of the 
preacher's work but according to the peculiarities of his gifts. 
But those that belong to the same general class or type have 
only a very general resemblance. They differ individually 
not only in degree but in kind. Preachers are didactic, dia- 
lectical, speculative, ethical, imaginative, sentimental, emo- 
tional, practical, rhetorical in different sorts as well as 
degrees. There are as many sorts in these different lines as 
there are individual preachers of mark. Dr. R. W. Dale, for 
example, was an eminently intellectual preacher. But so 
was Canon Mozley. So was Robertson and so was Bush- 
nell. But how different in intellectual type. The measure 
or degree in which the ethical impulse, or sentiment, or feel- 
ing, or imagination touched their intellectual activities left 
as its result a distinct intellectual product. Augustine and 
Chrysostom had extraordinary power in dealing with the 
conscience and the emotions, but they were no more alike 
than Jonathan Edwards and Henry Ward Beecher. Dr. F. 
W. Krummacher and Dr. Edward Payson were sentimental 
preachers and of extraordinary power of persuasion, but 
while belonging to the same general school of preachers, they 
were no more alike than Claus Harms and Horatius Bonar. 
Dr. R. S. Storrs is to be classed as a rhetorical peacher. So 
are Dr. Joseph Parker and Dr. Thomas Guthrie. But how 
greatly different in their rhetorical qualities. It is not a 
question of degree but of quality, and every man's strength 
lies with his own form of the gift. Success will depend upon 
developing and training that gift. Of course there is need 
of a broad basis for homiletic as for all other training. But 
this basis should support what is special to the man. One 



46 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

will not succeed equally well in all types of preaching. The 
development of individuality secures reality and effectiveness. 
No one preaching gift, or group of gifts, is of supreme im- 
portance. Every man should be content to do what he can 
best do, and it is idle to attempt to do what someone else can 
do better. Men succeed in what God clearly intended they 
should do. 

Richard Baxter was preeminently a pastoral preacher. 
President Finney primarily an evangelistic preacher. Dr. 
Dale was an educative preacher and lamented what he re- 
garded as his deficiency in evangelistic power. Dr. Joseph 
Parker was a popular, impressional preacher and interpreted 
the truth chiefly through the imagination. Canon Mozley 
was an apologetic and ethical preacher and never would have 
succeeded with an uninstructed and immature congregation. 
Dean Stanley was skillful in presenting his themes in a simple, 
pictorial manner and could interest children as well as adults. 
Bishop Brooks' preaching attracted and impressed those 
who were perplexed and oppressed by the mysteries and 
burdens of human life. Dr. R. S. Storrs was a rhetorical 
artist and preached most effectively to a cultivated con- 
gregation already persuaded to the truth of evangelical 
Christianity. 

Dr. John Hall preached expositorily with notable success 
to business men. So did Dr. Wm. M. Taylor. Henry Ward 
Beecher with his rare power of pathos, inimitable wit, cheer- 
ful and hopeful temperament, courageous spirit and broad 
human sympathies, was an animating and comforting 
preacher and strengthened men for the battle of life. Father 
Taylor of Boston seemed born to preach to sailors. These 
are only a few illustrations taken at random. Each signifi- 
cant preacher has his own gift, is successful in his own line, 
and it would be idle to discredit it in favor of another. Every 
variety of gift is needed and may be utilized in realizing the 



THE GIFTS OF THE PREACHER 47 

comprehensive results of preaching. No one man can do 
everything or succeed equally well on every line. Each must 
contribute his modicum to the total result. 

2. Yet a certain symmetry of homiletic development is 
desirable. A thoroughly one-sided man weakens the effec- 
tiveness of his own best gift. A judicious combination of 
qualities is consistent with individuality and strength and 
success in any particular line. The claims of individuality 
limit and regulate culture, but do not supersede the demand 
for range. Such range of culture is needed especially in the 
early part of one's professional career, when homiletic habits 
are in process of formation. It is thus only that a preacher 
is likely to find his strong point. It is a matter of experi- 
ment. Every preacher should train himself to preach more 
than one kind of sermons. Such training may be measurably 
successful without compromising individuality. Preachers 
are likely to overwork their specialty. Dr. Guthrie culti- 
vated himself too exclusively in a pictorial and dramatic style 
of preaching. Doubtless it was his strong point, although it 
is said that he did not discover it at the very outset of his 
career. The discovery was in a sort incidental, and after the 
discovery was made, training in it was a matter of deliberate 
choice and of persistent effort. And thus he over-worked it. 
He was too much of a Scotchman not to have succeeded in 
the training of his rational faculties. If he had done that, 
his pictorial and dramatic qualities might have served him to 
even better use than they did. He might well have gone to 
school to such preachers as Robertson. Rhetoricians like 
Dr. Joseph Parker need to moderate the exuberance of their 
imagination and emotion. They should go to school to men 
like Dr. Dale in whom the rational faculties are predominant. 
I grant the extreme difficulty of the task. It is asking a 
good deal of a man to take himself in hand and moderate and 
modify himself. But when habits are forming it may be 



48 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

done, and it should be done before it is too late. By patient, 
intelligent effort men find that they succeed better than they 
could have imagined in lines that are seemingly foreign to 
them. It should be remembered that many needs are to be 
met by the preacher. There are but few large and wealthy 
churches that can secure variety in preaching by increasing 
the number of preachers. In most of our churches one man 
must meet the various needs of the same congregation. If 
he stays any considerable length of time, he must measurably 
well satisfy those needs, well enough at any rate to hold the 
congregation as a whole. Preachers in our day find it more 
difficult than ever to meet the wants of a large number of 
people of different classes. This is one reason why the 
pastorate is so short. It explains also why congregations 
rally about the preacher as a centre and sift themselves and 
become homogeneous by a process of natural selection. The 
so-called institutional churches and all large churches of the 
centralized communions, like the Roman Catholic and Episco- 
pal, are able to supply their congregations with preachers of 
different types. There are great advantages in this. The 
Methodist church was obliged to adopt the itinerant system, 
in order to meet the needs of its constituency, and although 
it will inevitably be modified, it seems probable that it will be 
obliged to hold on to it and that it will find its advantage in 
it. The churches that have a permanent pastorate will find 
themselves obliged increasingly to secure, if possible, preach- 
ers who have some range of homiletic culture and some va- 
riety in their homiletic products. Modern culture will force 
the ministry into broader homiletic training or force the 
churches into the employment of more than one preacher for 
the same congregation. Preachers, in the consciousness 
that their preaching fails to meet all the needs of their con- 
gregations, sometimes make frequent exchanges of pulpit 
with their brother ministers. Something may be done in 



THE GIFTS OF THE PREACHER 49 

this way. But the upshot is likely to be a permanent ex- 
change. By trying one's hand in different lines one may find 
resources of which he was unconscious. Men do not know 
what they can do till they have tested the matter. Circum- 
stances often call out men's latent powers. Note men's ex- 
periences in extemporaneous preaching. Not infrequently 
circumstances push preachers on to a platform, where they 
must try their powers of extemporaneous speech, and then 
they find that what they regarded as impossible becomes 
easy. Experimenting on different lines is a good thing. It 
is this that at last discloses the secret of one's strength, and 
when one has found it, it will receive the support of training 
in other lines. This is true especially in the earlier years of 
one's ministry. No preacher should ever permit himself to 
tolerate any serious defect in his preaching, if it be possible 
to correct it. No vocation demands so many-sided a culture 
as that of a Christian preacher. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE STUDY OF HOMILETICS 

If preaching is the most important of all ministerial func- 
tions, homiletics must be the most important branch of prac- 
tical theology, and the intelligent study of homiletics the 
most important of all practical ministerial interests. The 
claim to supremacy of this function has indeed been chal- 
lenged in our day, but not with success. A new recognition 
of the importance of other lines of ministerial work is doubt- 
less the outcome of the discussion. But attempt to exalt the 
value of one line of work by minimizing the significance of 
another is a poor style of advocacy. Much that is of value 
has been said in depreciation of certain conceptions of homi- 
letic science and of certain methods of homiletic study. But 
nothing that has been said in disparagement of the suprem- 
acy of the preacher's work is worthy of a moment's consid- 
eration. I shall assume that the preacher's place is vindi- 
cated and shall spend no time in discussing it. It is the 
importance of the science of homiletics that partially justifies 
the American and British custom of detaching it from its 
acknowledged background and base in practical theology and 
of giving it separate consideration. The two topics I pro- 
pose for discussion are the value and the method of homiletic 
study. 

I. The Value of Homiletic Study 

I. It furnishes a basis of knowledge for the work of the 
preacher. Not all the knowledge that is possible of course, 
but a basis of knowledge, knowledge at least of the theory. 



THE STUDY OF HOMILETICS 51 

Preaching is an art. Like all art, it rests upon a science. 
Homiletics does for preaching what any science does for the 
work it represents. A man may know a thing without know- 
ing how he knows it, as he may do a thing without knowing 
how he does it. That is, he may have a genius for it. 
Genius is unconscious, or half-conscious, of its method. One 
may have a genius for preaching. But even such a man may 
well covet to know all that it is possible for him to know 
about his work. Such men are generally in fact most eager 
students of their art. Good preaching is not so easy for any 
man that he can afford to treat the conditions of success with 
indifference. But it is of special importance to those who 
are not "born preachers," if there be any such class of human 
beings. In order to know, one must have a way of getting 
at his knowledge. This is science. The first thing for a 
preacher to know is what to say. The next thing is to ar- 
range what he says. The last thing is to express what he 
has thought and planned. Substance, arrangement, expres- 
sion. Homiletics gives the preacher a well-based knowledge 
of these problems. The study has value with respect to these 
three interests. Let us consider them. 

The study is a guide in the choice of subject matter. 
Homiletics, like general rhetoric, is not creative but regula- 
tive. It is a formal, not a material science. As a science it 
has no subject matter of its own. It assumes it as given 
from other sources. It avails itself of these sources and 
teaches how to use the material thus secured. Its sources 
are various, Scripture, theology, ethics, science, history, lit- 
erature, experience, in a word, whatever may contribute the 
material of thought that may be converted into homiletic 
pabulum. The problem is to select such material as is perti- 
nent to the object sought and then to use it appropriately. 
The material is to be adapted not only to the work of preach- 
ing in general, but on particular occasions, on particular sub- 



52 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

jects, to particular classes of people, to particular types of 
sermon, and to the particular sermon in hand, whatever its 
type, its audience, its subject, or its occasion. And as it does 
not produce but only regulates the choice and use of mate- 
rial, so it does not produce but only regulates the mental 
energy that handles the material. But, as we shall see later 
on, the regulation of mental energy may serve to intensify 
it. It may stimulate the inventive powers. But the point in 
hand just here is that the selection and use of material must 
be regulated by considerations that are in harmony with the 
principles of homiletic science. 

It is a guide in organizing the material of thought. As in 
the choice of material homiletics gets back into Biblical and 
other sources, so in organizing it, it gets back into the 
science of rhetoric, and rhetoric gets back into the science of 
logic, for logic is the science that deals with the relations of 
thought. Rhetoric appropriates the results of investigation 
in the science of thought. It prescribes those methods of 
ordering thought that conform to the ascertained laws of 
thought. But here rhetoric and logic rest not merely on 
theory but on experience. Homiletics discusses those meth- 
ods of ordering thought in the domain of Christian speech 
that have been found most effective in producing the legiti- 
mate results of such speech. It develops a method of its 
own that is adapted to the specific nature of the work of 
preaching, and does not slavishly follow the canons of gen- 
eral rhetoric. 

It guides in the expression of Christian thought. It 
teaches how to express thought in a style appropriate not 
only to the laws of the human soul in general when it ex- 
presses itself in speech, but to the nature and object of Chris- 
tian preaching. It avails itself of whatever will aid in the 
cultivation of a style of speech that is specifically appropriate 
to the pulpit. In all this it, of course, presupposes the gifts 



THE STUDY OF HOMILETICS 53 

and the training essential to the use of language. The prob- 
lem is to turn these gifts and products of education in a right 
homiletic direction, so as to produce a type of speech that 
becomes an effective instrument in presenting the truth of the 
Gospel. 

2. It becomes tributary to the awakening of the preach- 
ing impulse. It is a universal fact that all knowledge, 
whether general or specific, awakens the powers of the soul. 
It is true in this particular branch of knowledge. Homiletic 
study prepares the way negatively and indirectly for such 
quickening by disclosing defects. Homiletics holds before 
the mind an ideal in the light of which one beholds his imper- 
fections. It is no inconsiderable part of our education to 
disclose such imperfections and to awaken self-dissatisfac- 
tion. The first thing and the best thing to do for any man 
is to place before him a standard in the light of which he may 
see his own limitations. We are stirred to self-improvement 
by the goad of discontent. 

But the positive result is the awakening of aspiration. 
Any slumbering impulse or energy is evoked as well as 
guided by vigorous intellectual commerce with those exter- 
nal concrete objects that are set over against the impulse or 
energy, and with the principles that are bedded in these ob- 
jects. Mechanical inventiveness, or the awakening of the 
mechanical impulse, for example, is produced by being 
brought into immediate and vigorous contact, not only with 
the best mechanical products, but with the principles that are 
hidden under them. It is the study of the principles as well 
as of the products of mechanics, that produces skilled work- 
men. Artistic impulse and invention are quickened by con- 
tact not only with the best concrete products of art but by 
familiarity with the principles of art. Thus in the work of 
preaching. Knowledge not only of the best sermon products 
but of the principles that should guide one in the choice of the 



54 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

subject matter of preaching tend,s to quicken and to develop 
the power to produce such material as is appropriate to one's 
work. It is vigorous agitation of principles as well as famil- 
iarity with products that quickens homiletic inventiveness. 

So too as regards the question of method. Mental free- 
dom and force are conditioned by the orderly development 
of thought. Show the mind the right track and it will move 
in it freely and, therefore, productively and forcefully. Study 
of the laws of mental action tends to quicken mental action 
itself. Thus also with regard to the expression of thought. 
Whatever makes manifest the conditions of free, forceful, 
clear, graceful expression tends to the quickening of all those 
activities of thought, feeling, imagination upon which suc- 
cessful speech depends. 

3. As securing a basis of knowledge and as quickening 
the preaching impulse, it follows that the study of homiletics 
will condition the most effective use of all available resources. 
It teaches and empowers one to marshal and handle rightly 
and effectively all the material of one's culture and training, 
mental, moral, spiritual, even physical. It aids one in the 
handling of one's mental resources. One may be a good 
thinker, a good theologian, a good scholar, and may treasure 
abundant mental resources from all quarters and yet he may 
not be able to make a proper use of these resources in the 
pulpit. Something more than knowledge is necessary to 
make a preacher. The preacher must know how to handle 
his learning. He must not only think and acquire and know, 
he must convert his treasures into effective pulpit force. The 
art of preaching consists precisely in the effective handling of 
one's self, and of one's knowledge and training and culture in 
the pulpit. It is only the thorough study of the art that will 
enable one to do this. 

It aids one in the study of models. Models give us homi- 
letics in the concrete. Every good preacher illustrates posi- 



THE STUDY OF HOMITETICS 55 

tively important homiletic principles. Every defective 
preacher illustrates negatively. But one must have some 
understanding of the preacher's task, some understanding of 
the principles embodied in his work, in order to get the value 
of the illustration. To know what to appropriate from one's 
model, one must have some test of its worth, and to know 
what to reject and avoid one must test the thing to be avoided 
by some valid principle. All study of models presupposes 
the application of some sort of test that brings into judgment 
the one-sidedness, the limitation, or defect of one's work. 
Otherwise instead of study we should have only a slavish imi- 
tation. 

It aids one in the best use of personal experience in the 
work of preaching. All good preaching of course comes out 
of the school of experience. But the worth of the experience 
depends on the kind of experience. What if one gets into the 
wrong school of experience? Experience simply as such has 
no value. There is bad as well as good experience. There 
is a false as well as true individuality in preaching. A 
preacher is rightly jealous of the rights of his personality in 
the pulpit. Loss of true individuality is loss of power. Bet- 
ter, indeed, keep one's individuality, even though it be very 
defective, than affect a merely formal correctness. Such cor- 
rectness is forceless. It is the man, the man himself, that 
preaches. If one loses what is vital out of his manhood, his 
work will be crippled. But in speaking of individuality it is 
pertinent to ask which one, the true or the false? It is the 
preacher's task to train up and train in the true, and to train 
down and train out the false individuality. Preaching will 
go wrong unless regulated by principles that are valid. Be- 
hind the art is the science. Experience in the practice of 
medicine is valuable, but not without medical science behind 
it. Experience in preaching may be mischievous unless 
properly regulated. One may get only the more deeply set 



56 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

in bad ways. It is true that a man of genius may cut out his 
own path and by a sort of instinctive conformity to the prin- 
ciples of his art succeed unconsciously. But the average 
preacher, who hasn't the instincts of genius and who knows 
nothing about the principles of his work, is as really a charla- 
tan as a physician who knows nothing about the science of 
medicine or a lawyer who knows nothing about the princi- 
ples of law. Men of genius have a certain sort of success in 
many lines without a thorough basis of scientific knowledge. 
But in these days we are not encouraging experiment in this 
sort of success. After all every man who truly succeeds best 
must in fact be a student of his business. 

It is hardly too much to say that the study of homiletics 
conditions the use of one's spiritual resources. It is indeed, 
the presence of the divine spirit in the preacher that makes 
his preaching spiritually effective. Human resources iso- 
lated from the divine are not adequate to the work. But it is 
equally true that one's training as a preacher may condition 
the effectiveness even of the spirit of God within one. The 
divine spirit makes best use of the best instruments, and good- 
ness is not the only effective instrument in the pulpit. We 
know that our moral attitude with respect to the Holy Spirit 
conditions the effectiveness of his work in regeneration. We 
may be equally sure that the preacher's mental attitude and 
activities with respect to his work will condition the use the 
Holy Spirit may make of his resources. We know that dis- 
tinctively spiritual experiences are necessary to effective 
preaching. But it is not too much to say that the homiletic 
value of these experiences is conditioned by the use we are 
able to make of them in our homiletic training. Fra An- 
gelico thought his art as painter a purely supernatural gift. 
It was the spirit of God that gave him those angelic faces as 
he traced them upon the walls of his monastery at Florence, 
and he never changed them. But we know that his religious 



THE STUDY OF HOMILETICS 57 

inspiration was conditioned as to its effectiveness by the per- 
fection of the artistic instrument through which it wrought, 
and that it was the skill as well as genius of the painter that 
made available the higher inspirations of the saint. And do 
we not also know that it is the skill of the trained preacher 
in part that makes available for the highest ends the influence 
of the divine spirit that works within him? Knowledge of 
the work of preaching, impulse to exercise it, and skill in using 
it — this is what the study of our science does for us. 

If this be so, it follows that the study may be of value in 
rescuing the work of the pulpit from degeneracy. There are 
always influences that are conducive to the deterioration of 
the preacher's work. Schleiermacher found them in his day 
and gave himself to the task of counter-working them. He 
suggests not only the need of strong and effective preachers 
and of a more earnest religious life to counter-work degener- 
ate tendencies, but of fresh interest on the part of all preach- 
ers in the study of their work in order to rescue it from the 
loss of a worthy ideal and to restore its effectiveness. These 
deteriorative influences are many, and every age is exposed 
to them. In periods that are past it has been a one-sided 
intellectualism. The degeneracy of the pulpit during the 
period of German rationalism is well known. Not only the 
substance of preaching, but its spirit, and form deteriorated, 
as will always be the case when the substance deteriorates. 
If the church loses a strong religious life and becomes ration- 
alistic and speculative, its pulpit will lose evangelical fervor 
and power. Schleiermacher found the German pulpit in this 
degenerate condition and he sought to restore not only a 
more spiritual type of theology, but a more religious life in 
the churches, and it is notable that he began his work in the 
pulpit. He not only furthered by his own preaching the 
development of a more devout and spiritually earnest tone in 
the German pulpit but he awakened fresh interest in the 



58 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

whole subject of preaching and in practical theology in gen- 
eral. Much of the one-sided intellectualism that has in time 
past characterized some types of American preaching has 
vanished. The preaching of all schools is more earnest and 
religious in its tone. But in so far as the American pulpit is 
endangered of detachment from a strong and genuine super- 
naturalism, the threat of degeneracy is over it, and it will 
require more than a "new theology" ; it will demand fresh 
study of the preacher's message, of his spirit, of his aims and 
methods to rescue it. A one-sided devotion to doctrinal the- 
ology has been another deteriorative influence. When 
theology becomes an abstract science and ceases to be a vital 
interest in human life, when men care more about thought 
than about life, about truth than about men, about a scientific 
than about a working theology, the pulpit becomes degen- 
erate. In order to counter-work this there has been needed 
not only a modification in theology but new interest in the 
practical application of truth to human life, new interest in 
the rescue of the pulpit from false ideals. And it is a fact 
that whenever in the history of the church there has been 
any increase or decrease of interest in the practical work of 
preaching, any increase or decrease of desire to make it ef- 
fective, there has been a corresponding increase or decrease of 
interest in the study of the science and art of preaching and 
such increase or decrease has been accompanied by a corre- 
sponding result in the work. Note the increase of interest in 
preaching and the bettering of its quality during the period 
of the Reformation and during different periods subsequent 
to the post-Reformation. But dogmatic confessionalism no 
longer endangers the vitality of preaching. It is rather an 
equally one-sided reaction against doctrinal theology and a 
barren agnosticism that threatens to eviscerate it of positive 
content. 

Various forms of secularism are influences that endanger 



THE STUDY OF HOMILETICS 59 

the effectiveness of the pulpit in our day. A secular temper 
and tone and habit of mind will devitalize and demoralize any 
pulpit. It will affect not only the aim and tone but the very 
substance and form of preaching. Genuine religious awak- 
enings not only evoke new preaching power, but stir new 
interest in the whole subject of preaching. We have seen 
this in the religious awakenings of the eighteenth and nine- 
teenth centuries. In resisting the tide of modern secularism 
that sets against the pulpit, it is necessary to keep before the 
mind the proper aim and spirit of preaching, not less than its 
proper substance and form. 

The inherent difficulties of the preacher's task are another 
source of influence that endangers diminution of power and 
they summon the preacher to grapple the more valiantly 
with his problem. Professor Shedd in the second chapter of 
his Homiletics has touched upon this in an effective manner. 
He presents three reasons for the careful study of the science 
and art of preaching, viz. ; the dignity and importance of the 
subject, its difficulties and the demand of the public upon the 
pulpit teacher. Only a word with respect to the difficulties 
is admissible here. These difficulties arise partly from the 
great varieties of need to be met, partly from the limitations 
of range in the methods of presenting the truth, and partly 
from the obscurity on the one hand and the familiarity on the 
other hand of the themes with which the pulpit deals. For 
any man, however gifted to make luminous and attractive 
the themes of religion, which touch upon the realm of mys- 
tery at every point, but have become familiar by ages of dis- 
cussion, to keep within the proper limits of pulpit advocacy, 
and to adjust them to the needs of all classes of people, is no 
easy task. Of course a study of homiletics alone will not 
enable one to do this. But it gives one an insight into his 
problem. It furnishes suggestions as to what is needed. It 
starts one upon the work of training oneself for his task and 



60 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

puts him in possession of some of the instruments necessary 
for it. 

II. Methods of Homiletic Study 

Four methods are available: investigation of fundamental 
principles, observation of living examples, analysis of pub- 
lished products and personal experience and criticism. 

i. Study of homiletic principles. I begin here, because 
other methods of study avail only as fundamental principles 
are mastered. Preaching of course does not begin with 
science. Science is the product of experience. But experi- 
ment is more effective in the light of science. Principles are 
the summation of the results of inductive processes of inves- 
tigation. They are the registry of generalized facts. They 
are available for use. It is not necessary to go through all 
the processes of inductive investigation in order to get the 
results. We may avail ourselves of such as are ready at 
hand. Homiletics as a science is a way of getting at the 
essential things, the fundamental, the bottom things, the 
things that make preaching what it ought to be, i. e., its prin- 
ciples. It detaches the principles that are bedded in the 
work and holds them up to view, makes them objects of 
observation and reflection, and thus secures a knowledge, or 
a measure of knowledge, of the nature of the work. In all 
this study familiarity with other methods is of course presup- 
posed, otherwise the scientific would discredit the artistic 
aspect of the problem and result in a conventional and stereo- 
typed product. The importance of native gifts and the sig- 
nificance of personal peculiarities are especially recognized. 
The personal factor is always presupposed and homiletics can 
not discredit or displace it. As Bishop Brooks says: "Per- 
sonality is the soil out of which preaching grows." This is 
not the whole truth, but it is an important truth. The 
quality of preaching as a personal product will depend upon 
the quality of the soil of personal manhood. It is not 






THE STUDY OF HOMILETICS 61 

preaching if it be not the product of a living, human soul. 
There is no absolute and universal model or ideal of preach- 
ing. Every man is summoned to find and develop his own 
strong point as a preacher, and he must learn largely by ex- 
periment. It is a fresh problem to every new comer. But 
after all the science of homiletics' does not deal merely with 
the individual preacher. It does not at the outset attempt 
to answer the question: "How should I preach?" It deals 
with a broader question : "How should any man preach?" By 
answering the latter question, however, it has done much to- 
wards answering the former question. That is to say, there 
are certain general principles that are valid for all preaching, 
and to which any man who would be a good workman must 
conform. No man can be a complete law unto himself in 
homiletics any more than he can in ethics. The personal 
factor is doubtless more flexible in art than it is in morals. 
But even ethics has its individual factor. Ethical science 
can not, by a general law, determine beforehand how each 
human being, in every conceivable particular case, should 
behave. Even casuistry is inadequate to meet all possible 
cases. But ethical science has, by its formulation of general 
principles, taken the individual to a very large extent under 
its regulation. And it is so with homiletic science. It ab- 
stracts from concrete reality an ideal of preaching and holds 
it up before us. Every preacher must avail himself of it in a 
general way. But each man does it under certain limita- 
tions, each in his own way and only to a limited extent. One 
can only approximate a general ideal. But this general ideal 
furnishes a background and basis for the personal ideal, 
which the preacher abstracts from the ground-work of his 
own personality. An available ideal for preaching therefore, 
will be a blending of the general and the personal ideals. 
That is, it will recognize those principles upon which good 
preaching in general rests, and at the same time it will recog- 



62 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

nize the demands of one's own personality. But the stress- 
point just here is that every preacher must get back beyond 
his own personality in order to answer the question how he 
should preach. And this takes him a good way back. It 
takes him into relation with the Scriptures, and this 
conditions his subject matter. It takes him into relation 
with the Church, whose minister he is, and this con- 
ditions his message and his aim and tone. It takes 
him into relation with the science of rhetoric, and this 
conditions the method of ordering and expressing thought. 
Here one gets a basis for preaching that is scientific. Per- 
sonality may modify one's work. It will not, can not, be the 
duplication of another man's work. But it does not create 
the primary ideal. Now it is true that men of homiletic 
genius are of great value as illustrating homiletic principles 
in the concrete. These men perceive intuitively, sense in- 
stinctively, and apply unconsciously or half-consciously, the 
principles of their art. The principles are there, if the 
preaching is what it should be. And in a sort they regulate 
the preaching. But they do it unconsciously. Such men do 
not always know their art. They are half-consciously im- 
pelled from within. It is from such men that homiletics ab- 
stracts its principles to best advantage. At any rate it may 
well go to recognized masters of the art and not to inferior, 
second rate men. But seeing how homiletic principles are 
illustrated by masters of the art, it is necessary to preserve 
them in scientific form for the benefit especially of those who 
are obliged to work consciously and laboriously in order to 
work successfully or perhaps in order to work at all. A 
good deal has been said by writers on art about the value ofc 
unconscious and unreflective work, as if the nearer men get 
to savage life the better work they are likely to do. Ruskin 
glories in this sort of savagery and illustrates from the art of 
coloring among semi-civilized as contrasted with civilized 



THE STUDY OF HOMILETICS 63 

peoples. "It is their glorious ignorance of all rules that 
does it," he says. But whatever may be said in favor of 
spontaneity in the art of coloring, which is largely an imita- 
tive art, and is doubtless largely dependent on the uncon- 
scious training of the eye and of the artistic tastes, it is 
certainly not true of the art of public speech. Of course the 
art is not acquired by the perfunctory application of external 
rules, although all ignorance of rules could hardly be called 
"glorious." But nothing can supersede the mastery of 
homiletic principles. They give one an insight into his 
problem. They give one the necessary teaching as to what 
he has to do and how to do it. 

2. The study of living preachers who are models of their 
art. Good models are of immense value especially to a 
young preacher. It is a great blessing for young men to 
have had the privilege in early years of listening to able and 
accomplished preachers. The writer has had abundant op- 
portunity to note its results in students of preaching. It is 
noteworthy that most men who attain to eminence in the 
pulpit recognize and acknowledge their dependence for 
inspiration upon preachers whom they regarded as models 
in early years. It is well to listen only to the best preachers 
that are within reach, and it is well to listen to many preach- 
ers and of different types. Thorough study of living models 
makes it impossible for any man to become an unconscious 
or a conscious imitator. Nor will such study merely lead 
one to yield oneself up sympathetically to the preacher. This 
is necessary in the best study of living preachers. One has 
on hand the task of analyzing and criticising without any 
loss of respect for the preacher, or for his work, or loss of 
responsiveness to the truth which he presents. It is necessary 
to cultivate the habit of combining clear mental judgment 
with personal sympathy and respect and with reverence for 
the sanctities of public worship. 



64 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

3. Analysis of published products. There is no influence 
so potent for the youthful student of the preacher's art as 
that of the living exemplar. But it needs supplementing. 
The value of a habit of indiscriminate reading of sermons is 
more than questionable. If it results in a dominance of the 
reader's mind, it may be pernicious. It is doubtless of value 
to absorb a sermon in an uncritical manner. By frequent 
and even rapid reading without critical analysis one may 
become familiar with a preacher's product and catch his 
quality and method fairly well. One may come very readily 
to detect his delicacies and subtleties of thought and feeling 
and live in a kind of fellowship with his spirit. It is possible 
and desirable to know a preacher in this way. It is a sort of 
familiarity that lets one a long way into the inner life of a 
preacher. There is much in a great preacher like Frederick 
Robertson or Phillips Brooks that critical analysis does not 
reach. Some things it never can reach. We come into 
touch with a preacher's dominating spirit by letting him 
speak directly to us through his product rather than by 
effort, to reach it by the processes of critical analysis. 

But analysis gives us much. It is an inductive process 
that gives us the preacher's method. We find him here in 
his workshop. We see how he handles his tools. It gives 
one a knowledge of the preacher's range of subjects, of the 
quality of his theological teaching, the sources from which 
he draws his material, the characteristics of his expository 
methods or his methods of interpreting thought to the mind, 
and of his persuasive methods, or methods of presenting 
truth to the feelings and the will, his methods of organizing 
the material of his discussion, knowledge of the different 
types of sermon that come from his hand, and therefore of 
the school of preachers to which he belongs, and finally a 
knowledge of the peculiarities of his literary style. 

4. Personal experience and criticism. The skill of the 



THE STUDY OF HOMILETICS 65 

preacher is largely a product of experiment. Men learn to 
preach by preaching. And confessedly it demands a good 
deal of pluck and dash and eager enterprise and unconscious 
absorption in the actual work of preaching in order to realize 
the best results of experience. One needs a large measure 
of freedom. It is fatal to be the bond servant of external 
rules or to be hampered by a self-conscious correctness in 
the free and noble service of the pulpit. And yet no man will 
succeed without remorseless criticism of his own work. 
There are two points in the genesis of the sermon where 
rigid criticism will be of most avail. First at the outset in 
sketching the plan of the sermon. One who has mastered 
his line of thought will be ready to plunge into work without 
being hampered in the process of production. The more 
freely one works in the development of the sermon the better. 
But no one will succeed in securing the requisite freedom of 
production without careful preliminary work, and no one 
secures this without severe preliminary criticism. 

Another point is at the conclusion of the work. After one 
has put his product outside of himself, alienated it and put 
it at a certain distance from him, he can turn back to it and 
as from without subject it to successful criticism. It is then 
and thus that one may be able to eliminate imperfections 
without much danger of devitalizing the product. The en- 
thusiastic and aspiring preacher will also covet the criticism 
of fellow students of his art. It is constant criticism that 
keeps a worthy standard of excellence before the preacher; 
it discloses the gulf between the product and its ideal, which 
the preacher is endeavoring to bridge ; it evokes dissatisfac- 
tion which is the goad of effort ; it is the necessary condition 
of all improvement and of the cheer that comes of success, 
and it constantly enlarges the scope of one's knowledge of 
the whole subject and broadens one's reach in wider fields 
of service. 



II 

SECTION SECOND 
SOURCES OF HOMILETIC MATERIAL 



CHAPTER I 

BIBLICAL SOURCES OF THE PREACHER'S 
MESSAGE 

The basis and largely the content of Christian preaching is 
Biblical fact and truth.* Despite the ravages of Biblical 
criticism the pulpit still holds, and doubtless will continue to 
hold, to its Biblical sources. It is generally conceded that 
the historico-critical method of dealing with the Bible has 
not damaged it as a text-book for the preacher. It has been 
found, in fact, greatly to have enhanced its value. Preach- 
ers have frequently availed themselves of extra-Biblical 
sources. It is no new thing in the history of Christian 
preaching. Scholastic preachers drew from Plato and Aris- 
totle, and from ecclesiastical authorities. Deistic and ration- 
alistic preachers in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries 
drew from works on physical science and from the writings 
of literary men. But the custom has not generally been 
regarded as an index of the wealth of the theology of the 
church or of the dignity and power of its pulpit. In fact it 
has often been regarded as a mark of degeneracy. In our 
day the experiment is rare. And this fact may be regarded 
as proof that the more freely and candidly we handle our 
Scriptures, and the better our conception of them, the more 
we respect them. It would be quite impossible for any self- 
respecting preacher of any school in our day to turn pulpit 
vagrant and to exploit extra-Biblical writers as homiletic 

*There are of course, other sources available for the preacher, but 
they are subordinate to the Biblical and are utilized as content for the 
development of the sermon, not as basis for the discussion. 



70 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

authorities. Once in a while one may hear an extra-Biblical 
passage quoted as motto to a sermon. Occasionally one 
may hear an extract from what is called secular literature in 
connection with the Scripture readings of the church. There 
is no objection to this so long as no dishonor to the Biblical 
sources is intended, although apparently citations from out- 
side sources would be far more effective in the main body 
of a discourse. In occasional discourses in connection with 
exceptional religious services, in the discussion for example 
of some theme in comparative religion, it may be desirable 
to place a passage from the ethical and religious writings of 
paganism beside a Biblical passage as text, although as 
already indicated it would seem to be far more effective when 
introduced into the main body of the discussion. But in 
connection with the ordinary services of Christian worship it 
seems much preferable to hold closely to the Biblical sources. 
The preacher is in general precommitted to such sources, and 
his commission presupposes that he will not stray widely into 
extra-Biblical fields. His relation to the Bible, which is rec- 
ognized as by preeminence the record of revelation, to the 
Church as the body that is responsible for the communica- 
tion of Biblical truth through preaching, his relation to the 
religious needs of men and to the aim to be realized by his 
calling — all condition his sources. It would lower the stand- 
ard of the pulpit, it would discredit his proper sources ; it 
would, whether intentionally or not, minimize their value, 
and would result in the introduction of a subject matter not 
adapted to the nature and object of his work. Church 
preaching rightly presupposes a canonical basis. With respect 
to this canonical basis, however, there are some questions 
that call for practical consideration. 

i. The first question is that of canonical genuineness and 
authenticity. What practical questions in homiletics Bibli- 
cal criticism may yet raise we do not know. Hitherto there 



BIBLICAL SOURCES OF THE MESSAGE 71 

has been but little practical difficulty, save in the hands of 
crude and ill-balanced men. Neither the higher nor the 
lower criticism has yet very seriously affected Christian 
preaching. Theological changes have had far more serious 
results. Textual criticism, however, is a problem of prac- 
tical homiletic interest. Only a pure text can be the best 
sort of text. Spurious passages, demonstratively such, 
should be ruled out of the pulpit. The preacher should know 
what they are. The revised version of the Scriptures may be 
relied upon as a guide here, but the preacher should be able 
to rely upon the results of his own investigation. We draw 
freely from deutero-canonical writings in cases where ques- 
tions of authenticity and genuineness are of but little practi- 
cal importance. But in all most important questions the 
proto-canonical writings will have the preference. If it were 
important to quote from Paul as an unquestioned authority, 
the proto-Pauline writings should have the preference. In 
such case one would not quote from the letter to the He- 
brews, although without doubt one would be quoting from 
the Pauline school of thought. The whole problem of ca- 
nonicity may undergo considerable revision, although it 
would seem to be rather late to revolutionize the canon. But 
in any event the following considerations are for the preacher 
worthy of attention. 

(1) The preacher's attitude towards the canon is naturally 
and properly one of good faith. It is in the best sense of the 
word conservative. Homiletics may well be, and in fact 
must be, more conservative than critical exegesis, or than 
any form of criticism high or low. Criticism can not and 
should not accept the authority of tradition as a guide in its 
critical processes, although it should be no hardship or dis- 
credit to treat it with decency. Criticism is necessarily radi- 
cal. It has but one question: What are the facts at hand, and 
what are the legitimate inferences from the facts? Of course 



72 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

in a sphere involving the religious interests of men it should 
be duly cautious and balanced in its judgments and good 
tempered, but in any event it must follow its facts. But 
homiletics has a prevailingly practical rather than scientific 
interest. It has behind it the historic church. Its primary 
task is to perpetuate, to conserve, to enlarge and enrich its 
life and not chiefly to revolutionize its thought. All changes 
of thought in ecclesiastical life are properly slow and gradual. 
The best and most permanent results are secured when they 
follow normal, evolutionary processes, rather than leap into 
manifestation by violent revulsion. Homiletics is, there- 
fore, more conservative than criticism. It is more tolerant 
of tradition. It seeks to interpret, to conserve and perpet- 
uate the truth of tradition. This is done most effectively by 
a gradual exposure of the errors with which it has been asso- 
ciated, not by violent, radical and revolutionary attack upon 
them and by disintegrating the forms in which they have 
appeared. This difference of attitude towards tradition in- 
volves no ethical contradiction between homiletics and criti- 
cism. There is here no necessary compromise of truth and 
integrity. It is largely a question of method. It is the preacher's 
task to adjust himself to the requisitions of both disciplines. 
(2) It is confessedly difficult to secure thoroughly reliable 
results from criticism in entire independence of tradition. 
External and historic evidences are more important than the 
literary critic, who is likely to follow his subjective preposses- 
sions is able to see. This may be seen perhaps in critical 
discussions about the fourth Gospel. A larger respect for 
tradition should at any rate follow late critical judgments as to 
the dates of the synoptic Gospels. But in any event until 
competent critics secure more harmonious results with respect 
to the more important questions of Biblical criticism, e. g., 
questions relating to the date and authorship of the fourth 
Gospel, and of the Epistles that bear the name of Paul, the 



BIBLICAL SOURCES OF THE MESSAGE 73 

preacher may well suspend judgment, or at least be cautious 
of snap judgment. Only fools rush in where critics "fear to 
tread." Some of the best critics of the day call a halt and 
bring confusion into the camp of the pell mell gentry. 

(3) The harmony of contested Scriptures with the 
Christian circle of ideas is a matter of practical importance 
for the preacher. Even doubtful Scriptures may well be re- 
tained and used in the pulpit if they clearly echo the original 
Christian tradition. It is on this ground that many otherwise 
questionable passages find standing in the canon, e. g., the first 
eleven verses of the 8th Chapter of John. The deutero — 
canonical writings will doubtless hold their ground for this 
reason. 

2. A second question relates to the use of the Old Testa- 
ment in preaching.* The Old Testament has been found to be 
of immense value for homiletic use. Instead of being a drag 
upon the pulpit, as has been claimed by men who are not 
authorities upon the question, it has proved rather to be a 
source of great power and profit. Doubtless it has been mis- 
used. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries natural 
religion, so-called, found touching points with it. The book 
of Proverbs for example, was a fruitful basis for a sort of 
preaching then much in vogue. It did good service in its way, 
doubtless, but it was far from a worthy type of Christian 
preaching, if indeed it could be called Christian at all, and was 
fruitless of best results. Mystical preachers, who have been 
afflicted with what has been somewhat coarsely called the 
"typological concupiscense" have affected Old Testament texts. 
This extravagant typologizing or its modification, allegorizing, 
this wild search for the mystical sense is of Jewish origin, and 
the conception of the Bible behind it is Jewish. It was ap- 
propriated by the Roman Catholic Church, and was passed on 



*For a full discussion of this question see Die Bedeutung, des Alten 
Testaments fur die Christliche Predigt. von Ernst Binderman, Pastor. 



74 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

into Protestantism. As this conception has prevailed there 
has been a disproportionate as well as perverted use of the 
Old Testament in the pulpit. This was the case prior to the 
Reformation. Little distinction, if any, was made between 
the Old and New Testament points of view in the handling of 
texts. The Reformation restored the New Testament to its 
proper place. But it did not reform men's conceptions of the 
Bible. It checked and modified, but did not destroy, the "typo- 
logical concupiscense." Luther used the Old Testament ex- 
tensively. Its rhetorical suggestiveness was of great value to 
him. He highly estimated also its apologetic value. In 
theory he recognized the importance of getting at the historical 
sense of the Scriptures in preaching. But he still allegorized. 
He still held the mystical sense of Solomon's Song. One of 
the chief reasons probably why the Old Testament has been 
so largely used in preaching is that it yields itself so readily 
to the allegorizing method. It has wrought powerfully in the 
imagination and emotions. It is rich in its rhetorical re- 
sources. It has furnished a great amount of fruitfully sugges- 
tive but misleading preaching. Luther's allegorizing was 
doubtless a rhetorical interest largely. Modern criticism, that 
has restored in exegesis the historic sense of the Old Testa- 
ment, has alienated the pulpit somewhat from it. But misuse 
is no argument against right use. A critical reaction against 
the use of the Old Testament would result in a very serious 
loss to the pulpit. It is too rich in homiletic material to be set 
aside. Homiletic use takes us far beyond the limits of strict 
exegesis. The question is so important for the work of the 
pulpit that we may well linger with it. 

(i) The Old Testament is of great value to the preacher 
in the abundance of its general religious subject matter. Here 
are found the truths of universal religion. All those doctrines, 
which have been called the doctrines of natural religion, are 
found in the Old Testament. They are assumed, not indeed as 



BIBLICAL SOURCES OF THE MESSAGE 75 

doctrines of natural religion, but as doctrines of Old Testament 
revelation, to which natural religion readily responds. And 
this doubtless accounts for the sense of affinity to Old Testa- 
ment religion recognizable in all forms of deistic and rational- 
istic religion. But these truths of universal religion are 
available in the Christian pulpit for most fruitful and practical 
use. Here also are the germs of some of the most important 
New Testament teachings. They appear, of course, in Old 
Testament form. But they are genuine historic germs. In 
the light of them we understand New Testament teaching 
better. Teachings relating to the attributes of God, his mercy, 
justice, fidelity, integrity, — teachings touching his creative 
activity, providence, sin, redemption, justification, resurrec- 
tion, immortality, punishment, — all appear in the Old Testa- 
ment in many forms and have historic connection with the 
forms in which they appear in the New Testament. Many 
of them are illustrated at large in historic form and are ac- 
centuated in the Old Testament in such ways as were not 
possible in the New Testament. Thus for example the doc- 
trine of the covenant so prominent in the Old Testament. It 
lies at the basis of Old Testament religion, and is illustrated 
in a profoundly interesting manner in the history of the cove- 
nant people. All these teachings become a foundation for 
New Testament teachings. 

(2) The concrete historic form of the Old Testament is 
of immense value to the preacher. All its teachings have a 
historic background. Its truths run back into the realm of fact. 
Hebraism is a historic, not an abstract religion. It may be to 
a considerable extent idealized history, but its idealistic forms 
are a most valuable method of conveying truth. Pictorial 
representations of God are especially valuable for pulpit use. 
God appears here, not as an abstract conception of the mind, 
but in the processes of personal historic self-revelation. Here 
all his qualities emerge and are made known and felt in his 



76 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

personal relations with his people. Here is the living God, 
the covenant God, the jealous God, the faithful God, the com- 
passionate God, the righteous God, the holy God. All these 
qualities are more than conceptions or objects of thought. 
They appear as realities in God, who enters into fellowship with 
his chosen ones. Anthropomorphic doubtless they are, and 
for this very reason the more valuable for the preacher. 
Nothing can be more vivid than these representations of the 
divine personality and of its active presence in the world. 
God's manifestations in Providence and in the historic move- 
ments of his kingdom are presented in the most powerful 
manner conceivable, and in forms of representation well fitted 
for pulpit use, for they appeal to the imagination. Human 
virtues and vices, individual, domestic, social, political, com- 
mercial, industrial are here set forth in living, historic illustra- 
tion. Few passages in the New Testament are comparable 
with these Old Testament passages, as basis for the discussion 
of human virtues and vices. Recall the book of Proverbs, the 
books of the Psalms, the books of the Prophets, and the his- 
torical books with respect to their portraitures of personal and 
public vices. Robertson's discourses from the books of Samuel 
illustrated the resources of the Old Testament for the discus- 
sion of the ethical aspects of social and political subjects. 
Some of the best moral instruction from the pulpit, has been, 
and always may be, presented in biographical and historic 
form from Scriptures brought from the Old Testament. For 
the preacher no literature in existence is comparable in many 
of its features with the biographical and historical literature 
of the Old Testament. It is of immense interest and profit to 
all classes of human beings. 

(3) The vast range and variety of Old Testament themes 
are another element of value for the pulpit. It is in part its 
concrete, historic form that secures this range and variety. 
Note its wide range of personal and national experiences. 



BIBLICAL SOURCES OF THE MESSAGE 77 

Preachers generally go to the Old Testament for their texts, 
when, on special occasions they discuss public questions. 
Even Schleiermacher, who undervalued and, I venture to add, 
misunderstood, the Old Testament, and who on ordinary oc- 
casions, never drew his texts from that source, turned to the 
Old Testament whenever he discussed political and patriotic 
subjects. The war in defense of the American Union illus- 
trated the wealth and variety of Old Testament material for 
the discussion of national and patriotic themes. In its wealth, 
range and variety of material, as well as in its concrete, his- 
toric form, it is especially well adapted to historical, biograph- 
ical and ethical discourses. It illustrates a great variety of 
ethical principles in historical and biographical form. Luther 
noted and remarked upon the fact that people always listened to 
sermons that dealt with this sort of Old Testament material. 
All preachers of experience have had occasion to note the same 
phenomenon. 

(4) The exuberance of its rhetorical forms is also of excep- 
tional value to the preacher. This too is involved in its concrete, 
historic quality, but is worthy of special consideration. The 
diction of the Old Testament is largely that of passionate feel- 
ing, and of poetic or semi-poetic imagery. Its forms are those 
of the imagination rather than of reflective intelligence. It is 
ecstatic in its emotional freedom and unrestrained in its poetic 
license. The moral passion that marks the utterance of the 
Hebrew prophets finds no parallel in the New Testament. Our 
Lord's moral denunciations and warnings were often terrific, 
but their moral poise was the most striking quality in their 
dreadfulness. Paul's rhetoric was exuberant, often reaching a 
great height of emotional and imaginative eloquence, but as 
compared with that of the Hebrew prophets, his utterances 
were words of soberness. Only when he is caught up into the 
third heaven does he see things that are unutterable. Then only 
there are no words for his ecstasy. Christianity was, doubtless, 



78 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

in the language of Dr. Bushnell, "a gift to our imagination," 
but it is more strikingly true of Hebraism. Recall the gorgeous 
imagery of the Book of Job, of the Psalms ; of the Canticles, 
of the prophet Isaiah. The New Testament has nothing com- 
parable in pictorial and dramatic quality. The Apocalypse is 
more akin to the literature of Hebraism than to that of Chris- 
tianity. Its lofty and sometimes grotesque imagery is Hebraic 
in origin and quality. The Old Testament has profoundly in- 
fluenced the eloquence of the Christian pulpit. Chrysostom, 
Basil, Augustine, Luther, Bossuet, and moderns, like Robert 
Hall, and I might add Theodore Parker, have quickened 
their emotions and kindled their imaginations from these 
sources. Bushnell's sermon, "Spiritual Dislodgments," and 
Brooks' "The Conqueror from Edom," disclose the powerful 
influence of Old Testament rhetoric upon these masters of 
English style. 

Having directed attention to the value of the Old Testament 
for the preacher, let us briefly note some considerations, regu- 
lative for its use. 

(a) Books that approximate most nearly to the religious 
and ethical spirit of the New Testament, or that represent most 
fully the theistic spirit that is common to Judaism and Chris- 
tianity, may well have the preference in the choice of texts, 
for they are most profitable. They readily adjust themselves 
to the needs of the Christian pulpit. There are portions of the 
Psalms of which no Christian preacher can make use, save in 
the way of contrast, and there are passages in the books of the 
prophets that can be used only by careful adjustment. But 
taken as a whole they are among the most desirable portions 
of the Old Testament for homiletic use. As by a homiletic 
"divination," to use Richard Rothe's term as applied to Augus- 
tine's exegesis, the best preachers in different periods of the 
history of the church have turned to them, have found them- 
selves easily domesticated there, and in their use of them have 



BIBLICAL SOURCES OF THE MESSAGE 79 

found their hearers and met their religious wants. In the apos- 
tolic and patristic periods they were valued for their supposed 
messianic character. They doubtless have less value in this 
regard in our own day, for modern criticism has modified our 
conception of their Messianic quality. But this does not in the 
slightest degree lessen their religious and ethical value. Origin 
drew largely from these scriptures. So did Augustine and 
Chrysostom. Later Luther, and later still the Puritan 
preachers of England. Spurgeon's "Treasury of David" is 
valueless for the student of Biblical exegesis, but it is of very 
great value as disclosing the wealth of homiletic material the 
Puritan preachers found in the Psalms. 

(b) Old Testament Scriptures need adjustment to the New 
Testament point of view. It is of course not always necessary, 
for not infrequently the points of view are sufficiently alike 
for practical use. But whenever necessary, it is the preacher's 
task to make the adjustment. And it is not difficult to pass 
from the earlier to the later stage of revelation. Sometimes 
it may be done in the way of contrast. Note for example the 
contrast between the earlier and later Hebrew conceptions of 
death and between the Hebrew conception in all periods and 
the Christian conception. The only good reason, if indeed 
there were any good reason at all, for choosing an Old Testa- 
ment passage as basis for a sermon on the resurrection would 
be the opportunity it would afford for contrasting the Hebrew 
with the Christian conception of it in its formal and in many of 
its material aspects. In some such way as this it would be 
easily possible for the preacher to familiarize his hearers with 
the contrast between the earlier and later stages of revelation 
without scandalizing them or disturbing their faith. There are 
strong contrasts between the ethical points of view of the Old 
and New Testaments. These contrasts need to be pointed out 
in the pulpit. It demands something more than Biblical learn- 
ing to do this successfully. It needs a well-balanced judgment 



80 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

and the saving grace of common sense, and, above all, respect 
for one's fellow men. 

But the adjustment may be made positively as well. There 
are many Old Testament Scriptures that illustrate religious and 
ethical truths and principles that are universal. Experiences 
there recorded find their counterparts in all time. The prin- 
ciples of God's providential and redemptive revelation are 
illustrated here at large. The old becomes type of the new, be- 
cause substantially the same general principles of providence 
and redemption are at work.* But it is necessary to bear in 
mind the distinction between the homiletical and the exegetical 
use of the Old Testament. Its homiletic suggestiveness may 
very easily be overworked. It is very fruitful in the domain of 
feeling and imagination. Analogy is easily overdone. Poetic 
resemblances may obscure fundamental differences. Typology, 
a form of the application of the principle of analogy to exegesis, 
is doubtless an important principle for homiletics as well as 
exegesis, but it has been badly overworked in both departments. 
Analogy may run wild into allegory. The preaching of earlier 
periods was badly vitiated by it. It found its worst abuse in 
doctrinal preaching. But this homiletic caprice has not yet dis- 
appeared. It finds a most singular exhibition of itself in a 
modern school of Biblical literalists and especially among pre- 
millenarians. They combine a mystical and pietistic fanciful- 
ness and emotiveness with an extreme literalness in their use 
of Scripture. They import into the text the wildest fancies, 
and at the same time claim that they hold to the literal sense. 
They take the Bible "just as they find it" and make it "inter- 
pret itself," and then they proceed to pull out what they have 
already smuggled into it. And what a mess they make of it ! 

(c) In line with the preceding, it follows that distinctively 
Christian doctrines or teachings are not found in the Old Testa- 
ment. The preacher should remember that the Hebrew Scrip- 

*See Tholuck's Das Alte Testament im Neuen Testament. 



BIBLICAL SOURCES OF THE MESSAGE 81 

tures belong to a primary and subordinate stage of revelation, 
and should use them accordingly. Effort to find Christian 
teachings there has resulted in "wresting the Scriptures" to 
their own injury and to men's hurt, if not destruction. It is an 
anachronism. No Christian doctrine of the Trinity, of the 
Divinity of Christ, of justification by Faith, or death, of the 
resurrection, of the abode of the dead or retribution is found 
there. A recognition of this fact is very important for the 
preacher. 

3. Another question soliciting brief consideration is the use 
of the New Testament. Christian preaching rests of course 
mainly upon the New Testament. As set in the sphere of 
Christian worship, and as designed to propagate the Chris- 
tian Gospel of Redemption, it is pre-committed to a Christian 
content. It should take us into the very heart of the Gos- 
pel. It should deal with the interests of redemption and with 
those facts and truths that are fitted to the production and de- 
velopment of redeemed and regenerate character. Only the 
"truth as it is in Jesus" has supreme saving power. The New 
Testament has had precedence in the best periods of the his- 
tory of the church, periods of the most intelligent knowledge 
of the Bible and of Christianity; periods especially of most 
intelligent religious revival. The Reformation especially was 
influential in restoring the New Testament to supremacy. The 
reformers were driven to it for standing-ground in their battle 
for justification by Faith. Luther in his apologetic preaching 
relied largely upon it, especially upon the writings of Paul. 
Modern criticism that has fully restored in exegisis the historic 
sense of the Bible has turned the preacher again to the New 
Testament and it has become nominative for the use of the 
Old Testament. 

But what portion of the New Testament may well have the 
preference? Of course no preacher selects his texts simply 
because they are found in a particular portion of the Bible, or 



82 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

for the purpose of testifying his respect for that particular por- 
tion of it. Preaching thus based would be likely to be very 
unprofitable. We choose our texts because they are what we 
want to fit the themes discussed, or because they are in them- 
selves weighty and fruitful and are what we need. And for 
precisely this reason we give the New Testament the prefer- 
ence. But among the New Testament Scriptures perhaps the 
most fruitful and spiritually helpful texts are found in the 
Gospels. We go most readily to him "who spoke as never man 
spake." For narrative and descriptive texts we naturally turn 
to the Synoptists. The fourth GospeHs doubtless rich in this 
material, but it is especially weighty in the discourses. The 
historical passages in all the Gospels furnish very fruitful texts 
for a class of sermons of which we hear too few in the Amer- 
ican pulpit; viz., didactic sermons, that make use of historical 
material in a descriptive and pictorial manner. Popular in- 
terest in the life of Christ which has been evoked by such works 
as those of Geikie and of Farrar, not to name those of a still 
more weighty character, may suggest the value of discourses 
on the life of Jesus, in which the narrative and descriptive style 
is introduced. Books like "Philochristus," which undertakes 
to portray the life of Jesus from the assumed point of view of 
his contemporaries, suggest the same thing. The miracles of 
our Lord furnish material of immense wealth of suggestion. 
Their apologetic value is doubtless not what it once was. All 
the more reason why their homiletic value as parables in action 
of great religious and moral realities should be the more fully 
appreciated. The Parables are peerless in value for the 
preacher. The fact that they are unquestionably a part of 
the original Gospel tradition, their unity, their wealth of sug- 
gestion, their pictorial form and the analogies that appeal to 
the imagination, all adapt them preeminently to homiletic use.* 
The use of the Gospels in Scriptural selections, for example 

*See Lisco's Die Parabeln Jesu, exegetishchehomiletisch bearbeitet. 



BIBLICAL SOURCES OF THE MESSAGE 83 

in the Anglican and Lutheran churches, may suggest their value 
for the work of preaching. They have long had a certain prec- 
edence here as a basis for Scripture readings and for texts. In 
the Anglican and American Episcopal churches the congrega- 
tion always rises when the Gospels are read. German preachers 
give them the preference in their selection of texts. They 
might well have more abundant and varied recognition among 
the preachers of all communions. We find here the heart of 
the Gospel of redemption. Outside the Gospels we naturally 
go to Paul and John for the weightiest doctrinal texts. They 
develop Christianity most fruitfully and fully and centrally on 
the didactic side as James and Peter on the ethical and practical 
side. 



CHAPTER II 

CHRISTIAN QUALITY OF THE PREACHER'S 
MESSAGE 

We have seen that the Christian sermon will have a prevail- 
ingly Christian content. It will deal with such facts and truths 
as are designed for and fitted to the production and develop- 
ment of redeemed and regenerate character. What these 
facts and truths are in detail it will be unnecessary here to con- 
sider. They are contained in one all-comprehending Christian 
theme. That theme is Christ. Christian preaching may be 
summarized, therefore, as preaching Christ, the presentation of 
him as the inclusive substance of the preacher's message. Its 
content is redemptive fact and truth as incorporate in him who 
is himself the fact and truth of redemption. Truth in New 
Testament usage means redemptive truth. It is the content of 
the revelation of God in Christ, the hidden purpose of God in 
redemption at last revealed. The Greek word akrjdeia — 
truth — etymologically suggests the Christian conception of 
redemptive revelation. It embodies the notion of a disclosure. 
Truth is something no longer hidden ; it is something that has 
emerged from obscurity and become an object of knowledge. 
This conception is realized in Christianity. But the object un- 
covered and brought to knowledge is concrete, not abstract. 
It is God, God in Christ in his purpose and work of redemp- 
tion. This is New Testament truth. It is concrete reality, 
reality in a person. It involves the uncovering of God Him- 
self. God in Christ. Truth is truth in Christ. Therefore he 
said, "I am the truth." I am the reality of God in redemption, 
the reality of his person, of his mind, of his purpose, of his 



CHRISTIAN QUALITY OF THE MESSAGE 85 

character as righteous, but above all as gracious, the reality of 
His redemptive love, the reality of redemption itself. To 
preach Christianity, therefore, is to preach Christ. But what 
is it to preach Christ? There is a broader and a narrower 
conception of it. The narrower conception would concentrate 
wholly or chiefly upon a fragment of his person or upon a 
single aspect of his personal self-disclosure as the redeemer of 
men, that aspect which involves his priestly functions, and the 
facts and truths that fall within their limits. Preaching Christ 
will confessedly sometimes have, and may well have, a certain 
narrowness of range. Religion itself is in one aspect of it a 
narrow thing. But it is world-vast in its significance, content 
and result. If, however, it be true that Christ is the central 
reality of revelation, of theology, and even of moral and reli- 
gious history, then to preach Christ must have a broader 
significance. To preach Christ thus is to preach along all 
the lines that lead up to him and run out from him. Preaching 
along the lines that lead up to him solicits great range in the 
use of the Old Testament. Preaching along the lines that run 
out from him solicits great range in the discussion of all ques- 
tions that relate to the complex interests of men in their in- 
dividual and associate lives and relations. Our conception of 
Christian preaching must grow with the enlargement of our 
conception of Christ, and of his centrality and supremacy in 
the world, with the growth and development of human society, 
and with the enlargement and intensification of human inter- 
ests. This growth of the conception the Christian church has 
witnessed. It is manifest in the early Church in connection 
with the efforts of Christianity, to adjust itself to the expand- 
ing and multiplying interests and relations of men. Com- 
pare for example the earlier with the later preaching of Paul, 
if, as doubtless we may, we regard his preaching as illustrated 
by his letters. Compare the eschatological Christ of the Thes- 
salonian letters with the cosmic Christ of the Ephesian and 



86 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

Colossian letters. But it is given to our own age to preach 
Christ more comprehensively than to any preceding age. Let 
us now note some of the elements of this broader conception 
of preaching Christ. 

i. The root conception involves the presentation of his 
personality. He in his own person is the concrete historic 
embodiment and exponent of Christianity. The presentation 
of Him as such is fundamental not only in our conception of 
preaching Christ, but of Christian preaching itself. This in- 
volves the proclamation of Him as he is presented in the New 
Testament, for this is our only primal source of knowledge of 
his historic reality. Doubtless the Christ of the New Testa- 
ment needs interpretation, and much modification in the forms 
in which his image is presented to us there is possible. Men's 
conception and definition of the supernatural element in his 
historic personality and in the events associated with his life 
may be subjected, as is already the case, to much revision. 
But some form of this conception of a supernatural personality 
must forever attach itself to his manifestation as it emerges 
in the New Testament. This only is the Christ of the New 
Testament, and the very existence of the church is identified 
with this personality, so unique in its quality and relations. 
In this unique personality centre all the unique historic facts 
that are connected with the manifestation of his earthly life. 
This proclamation of a supernatural, historic person of itself 
gives Christian preaching vast range. Christ turned his 
preaching back upon himself. He himself is the revelation. 
He himself is the revealer of God. He, therefore, knows him- 
self always as in vital relation with all he says and all he does. 
He is not to be abstracted from it, as if, apart from who and 
what he is, it has any worthy significance. Nor yet is he to be 
entangled in all he says and does and thus become a morbidly 
subjective character. With clearest and most tranquil certi- 
tude of immediate knowledge, he recognizes himself as the 



CHRISTIAN QUALITY OF THE MESSAGE 87 

God-sent, and he as the God-sent is of more significance and 
importance than aught else. What he says or does is of but 
relatively little importance or import apart from himself. But 
he himself has chief significance only as related to Him that 
sent him. To accept what he says, therefore, and not to 
accept him, is not to the purpose. And to accept what he did 
apart from what he was as the God-sent is of relatively little 
importance. To accept supernatural events even, apart from 
him, who was himself the supreme supernatural and spiritual 
reality was no high form of Christian believing. This fact 
that Christ is the object to be preached demonstrates that he 
is vastly more than an ethical ideal or a homiletic model. He is 
the very substance, the very heart, the very pith and marrow of 
the Gospel with which the preacher deals. This promulging 
of Christ as a supernatural personality was the center-point 
of the preaching of the apostolic age. The heart and life, the 
matter and motive of it all was the person of Christ. His per- 
sonality gave character to all the facts. He was so much 
bigger than any or all of the facts that they all seemed natural, 
no matter how astounding they might be to men of little faith. 
Those stories of tremendous events did not seem distorted, 
disproportionate, or inharmonious, because he was large 
enough to support them. To preach those astounding facts 
aright, therefore, was simply to preach him who was in them 
all and gave them significance and character. They did not 
raise critical questions about them for he supported them. 
Hence the astounding stories of his birth, his miracles, his 
resurrection and ascension. All these facts were gathered up 
in him and in their proclamation they called it all preaching 
Christ. 

ii. The presentation of his personal character is 
also involved. This entered variously into the apologetic 
of the early church. It supported the arguments in 
defense of his claims and even in defense of some 



88 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

of the chief historic facts. The story of the conqueror of 
death was simply a perpetuation of the story of the conqueror 
of sin. In our own day, however, it perhaps receives more 
attention than it has ever received before. Ethical preaching 
finds its norm and its impulse in Christ as an ethical ideal. As 
such he is more fully presented than ever before. Christian 
preaching is apparently destined to entrench itself more and 
more in the personal character of Christ. It will fall back 
upon that character as the ground for its defense of Christian- 
ity itself. As at the first, it is apparently destined to have 
supreme apologetic significance. The time has come again, 
and under wholly new conditions, when we must summon 
Christ to the defense of Christianity. It will no longer avail 
to rest the defense of miracles upon external evidence. We 
must summon Christ to their defense. It will no longer avail 
to rest our defense of the resurrection of Christ upon historic 
evidences. We must summon him to the vindication of the 
fact of his own last triumph. What he was as the holy one 
of God, who conquered sin, renders it the more easy to believe 
that he was also the conqueror of death. What Jesus Christ 
was as a historic character, as interpreted also and vindicated 
in the experiences of his disciples for almost two thousand 
years, is in general one of the strongest defenses of Chris- 
tianity. His miracles do not so much support him as he them. 
Hi. The presentation of him in his official character is 
another aspect. Hereabout have to a large extent gathered 
the distinctive doctrines of grace, which have generally been 
regarded as the Christian doctrines distinctively and preemi- 
nently. Here are found the doctrinal presuppositions of Chris- 
tian ethics. With these doctrinal presuppositions, including of 
course the facts beneath them, as a foundation, ethical preach- 
ing must have very wide range. To be more specific, Chris- 
tian preaching as related to the prophetic function of Christ, 
to his function as an authoritative teacher, deals with the 



CHRISTIAN QUALITY OiF THE MESSAGE 89 

matter, the spirit and the manner of his teaching, of which in 
another connection a fuller word. As related to his priestly 
functions, or to his representative and mediatorial character, 
it deals with that whole group of doctrines and facts that relate 
to the reconciliation of God and man, doctrines and facts that 
have had vast significance in the historic development of 
Christianity and rightly interpreted are not of less significance 
and importance today. 

As related to Christ's regal functions, it deals with 
his centrality and supremacy as a moral and judicial 
authority, and as a controlling moral and judicial power. 
It deals with the exalted Christ, "exalted to be a Prince and a 
Savior." It deals with the kingdom of God as related to his 
earthly and super-earthly reign. The doctrine of the Holy 
Spirit is connected with the regal function of Christ, for it is 
this doctrine of the exalted Christ carrying on his redemptive 
work by the agency of the spirit that reincarnates him in hu- 
manity. Modern preaching, as related to the official functions 
of Christ, covers much more ground than formerly. It deals 
not so exclusively, and it deals more cautiously and realistically 
it may be believed, with his priestly functions. It deals more 
widely with the ethical aspects of his teachings, more broadly 
with his life as an exemplification of his teachings, and more 
fully with him as a regal authority, and as a vitalizing moral 
force in the human race. 

iv. To preach Christ is also to interpret his teachings. 
We may discriminate between the presentation of the person 
of Christ as an authority in the domain of truth, and the inter- 
pretation of those teachings that are the product of his teach- 
ing function, although the relation between them is in fact 
inseparable. For, as suggested above, the teachings of Christ 
have supreme significance and value at last only from their 
relation to his person. For he himself is at once the revela- 
tion and the revealer. But much of the preaching of our day 



90 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

deals with what Christ said. Much of it, doubtless, ignores its 
relation to his personality, or finds no special significance for 
it in its relation to his personality, and in so far as this is the 
case, it is superficial and is shorn to a large extent of its chief 
moral power. Jesus can not be successfully abstracted from 
his truth for he is in it to vitalize it with moral and spiritual 
power. The words he spake are spirit and life, for he who is 
spirit and life is in them. His teachings relate to God and to 
man and to the relation between them and to their relation to 
the order of the world. His teachings concerning God relate 
chiefly to his spirituality, to his moral integrity, but above all 
to his Fatherly benevolence. But this is not abstract teaching. 
What he says about God is interpreted and accentuated by his 
own personal disclosure of the significance of his message. 
What he says about the high nature and value of man is braced 
by his own personal disclosure of a perfect manhood, a man- 
hood which is the type and norm of all true manhood. What 
he says about man's relation to God and God's relation to man 
is interpreted by his own disclosure of himself as mediator 
between God and man, and those ethical teachings which must 
furnish the norm for the regulation of men in their relations 
with each other are all illustrated in his own perfect moral 
character and life. The range of such preaching is evident. 
To preach Christ in this comprehensive sense is to present 
the entire content of Christianity as related to the person, the 
character, the functions and the teachings of Christ. He only 
will think it a small, a narrow or a limited task who has never 
tested it. 

Upon the basis of what has already been said, the following 
suggestions are pertinent: 

And first, to recur to what has already been said, all preach- 
ing that is based upon the Old Testament is summoned to give 
the truths derived from it a distinctively Christian direction, 
otherwise it will lack the Christian tone and character. Such 



CHRISTIAN QUALITY OF THE MESSAGE 91 

use of the Old Testament, as already suggested, is possible. 
We do not preach as Hebrews or Jews, nor from the Hebrew 
or Jewish points of view, any more than we preach as inde- 
pendent speculators of this boasted twentieth century, who are 
inventing a new religion and a new theology. 

Again all material from extra-Biblical sources, and the range 
of such sources may be well-nigh boundless, will appropriately 
have a Christian aim, will be converted into Christian uses 
and take a Christian tone and color. All roads upon which the 
Christian preacher journeys will lead to Christ. All material 
drawn from any department of human knowledge, from his- 
tory, from science ; from philosophy, ethics, art, industry, 
politics, should be used to illustrate Christian truth, or the 
principles of Christian morality, and should be subservient to 
the moral and religious interests of men. All things are ours 
as Christian preachers, but only under the condition that we 
are Christ's as Christ was God's. 

The pulpit must of course interest itself in questions that 
are called secular, questions that do not of themselves belong 
to the original message of Christianity, nor to its central circle 
of truths or facts, but only to their practical applications. 
There are questions that touch the domain of physical science, 
of social and political science, of philosophy, education, art, 
industry. The Christian preacher is interested in them, as a 
preacher, only in so far as they relate themselves to the moral 
and religious welfare of men, and more especially to the de- 
velopment of a Christian type of manhood, and thus the 
realization of the final purpose of Christianity. The Chris- 
tian pulpit must take its central truths and facts out into their 
practical relations with and adaptations to the earthly interests 
of men, and it must interpret those interests in the light of 
these truths and facts and must fit them to every human need. 
All such questions may be brought within the reach of applied 
Christianity. All discussion of them should have for its ulti- 



92 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

mate aim the building of a broad Christian manhood, the 
enlargement and enrichment of the life of the church, the 
dissemination of the Christian conception of all human life, 
and the progress of the kingdom of God. This surely will 
not fail to secure for Christian preaching an educative power 
in human society. 

The Christian content of the sermon, as thus conceived, 
will depend largely upon the preacher himself, or upon the man 
behind the preacher. It will depend upon his conception of 
Christianity as a Gospel, upon his conception of Christ as the 
heart and life of that Gospel, it will depend upon his theologi- 
cal tendencies in general, upon his conception of the proper 
aim of preaching, on his general and specific purpose with re- 
spect to the interests of his fellow men, it will depend upon 
his moral fibre and his common sense. No amount of homi- 
letic skill will produce a Christian sermon. A preacher may 
have a text that palpitates with Christian life, he may always 
choose such texts, he may win themes that are Christian from 
them, he may have a good road for his journey, productiveness, 
suggestiveness and training enough to grapple with the task of 
putting his material into sermon form, but without a personal 
and professional purpose to handle his material Christianly, 
with personal loyalty as a preacher to his master Jesus Christ, 
his preaching will go wrong, it will fail in Christian quality 
and will be unproductive as to the great end of all preaching, 
the Christianizing or in the larger sense, the humanizing of 
men. 



CHAPTER III 

TEXTUAL BASIS OF THE PREACHER'S WORK 

The general topic introduced here is the text — as related 
to the subject matter of preaching, and it includes two 
branches, the significance of the text and the value of the 
text for the preacher. 

I. The Significance of the Text 
It has a double significance and may serve a double purpose. 
It is primarily the source of the material of the sermon. It 
is with this just here that we chiefly concern ourselves. As 
source it holds somehow, either explicitly or implicitly, the 
germ of the sermon. No matter how it yields its material, 
whether directly or indirectly; no matter what form the 
sermon takes, whether textual or topical, its primal import is 
the same. But the text has a formal as well as material 
significance and purpose. It not only furnishes the matter 
of the sermon, it regulates its development. It conditions the 
movement and so the form of the sermon, and it does this 
largely by conditioning its material. In the textual or exposi- 
tory sermon, the movement is directly conditioned by it. 
Matter and form are both immediately dependent upon the 
text, but the movement of the topical sermon as well is con- 
ditioned by it. It limits the material of the sermon, it condi- 
tions its specific quality of thought, it restricts its range and 
should influence its tone. But in doing this it has a certain 
influence upon the form of the development The text, there- 
fore, is as significant in a formal as it is in a material sense, 
as significant for the topical as for the textual or expository 



94 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

sermon. Upon the basis of this statement what follows may 
become the more evident. 

i. We see that the text is a part of the organism of the 
sermon. As containing explicitly or implicitly its subject 
matter it is completely identified with the organism. This is 
etymologically suggested. It is what is woven into and all 
through the sermon. It is its texture, its tissue. The product 
is somehow spun out of it. The main thought, or it may be 
some subordinate thought contained in or suggested by the text, 
is the raw material of the product. Sermon preparation con- 
sists in working out or working over in fit form this raw 
material into a new fabric — the sermon, or it may be the 
homily. It does not stand merely at the head of and outside 
the organism, it enters everywhere as a pervasive presence 
into its material and formal development. Between the text 
and sermon, therefore, there is always demanded a manifest 
material connection and to a limited extent a formal connec- 
tion. A text that stands wholly outside the sermon, that is 
not even a figurehead or guide-post to indicate its movement 
is a radical modification of its original significance. Those 
who advocate the topical ideal for the sermon, generally re- 
gard the text as a "rhetorical device." If this were the mean- 
ing of the text, it might be and often would be thrown wholly 
outside the sermon. It is evident that this view might and 
often would very seriously affect the character of a man's 
preaching. Those, however, who advocate the textual or ex- 
pository ideal of preaching must regard the text as the very 
pith and marrow of the sermon. So wholly absorbed in the 
substance of the sermon is it, that some writers, like Claude, 
for example, do not treat it as a differentiable part of the ser- 
mon at all. Homiletic analysis begins with the introduction. 
The text is lost in the body of the sermon. 

2. We may infer also the proper position of the text. 
Some forms of scholastic preaching placed the text after the 



TEXTUAL BASIS OF THE WORK 95 

introduction. There were in fact three introductions. The first, 
after the manner of the classical exordium, was of a "general" 
rhetorical character. The second was an explanatory intro- 
duction, dealing with the text and context and was called 
"special." The third was a transitional introduction connect- 
ing the exposition with the theme, and was called "most 
special." Thus the text stood between the first or general 
and the second or special introduction. German preachers in 
former periods have been in the habit of putting the text after 
a general introduction. Contemporary German preachers, 
however, have abandoned the practice and follow the British 
and American method of beginning with the text. If one 
wishes to use a general introduction or wishes to start his 
homiletic movement from a distance, it may be well enough 
or even desirable to place the text after it. It may seem to 
justify the preacher in a greater range, if that may be regarded 
as an advantage. It permits the preacher to move up to his 
text from any quarter, and then after having reached it to 
move out from it to his theme. Thus text and theme are 
brought and kept in close proximity. It is well to follow this 
method occasionally for the sake of variety, but in general the 
significance of the text settles the question of its position as 
at the head of the sermon. As part of the organism of the 
sermon, introduction and all, everything by supposition being 
drawn out of it, it should in general stand at the head. 

3. It becomes the more evident, also, why preaching has in 
the history of the church been prevailingly expository. Or 
better, perhaps, the prevailing method of expository preaching 
explains the conception and use of the text as the source of the 
material of the sermon. Such was the preaching of the Jewish 
Synagogue. An Old Testament passage was the text for the 
day. Preaching was an explanation and application of it. It 
was a Scripture reading with a running commentary. In 
the Apostolic churches an Old Testament messianic passage 



96 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

was frequently the text, and preaching was merely an exposi- 
tion and application of it. Gradually the New Testament 
writings came into use in the public service and were handled 
in the same way. This is said to have been the origin of the 
New Testament Canon. Writings that had become fixed in 
this homiletic use came to be regarded as canonical. If this 
be the fact the New Testament has a strictly homiletical and 
practical, rather than a theological or scientific significance 
and value. Preaching was prevailingly textual and expository 
from the Apostolic to the scholastic period. Scholasticism 
did not fully originate, but it developed, the topical method. 
The expository method was modified or dropped. The Re- 
formation restored it. The reformers' discourses, resuscitat- 
ing an old scholastic term, were called "postils," that is, things 
that come after, ■/. e., after the Scripture readings, namely — 
the exposition and application, i. e., the sermon, or more prop- 
erly, the homily (postilla, i. e., verba). This indicates what 
the prevailing idea of preaching was. It was simply the inter- 
pretation and application of Scripture truth. Hence exegesis 
and homiletics were closely allied. The word text is used in 
both disciplines. In exegesis it is the basis for exposition, i. e., 
for note and comment. In homiletics it is the basis for practi- 
cal suggestion and application as well. The two processes 
have freely, perhaps too freely, commingled in both depart- 
ments. There has been a good deal of homiletic work that 
has been exegetical and there has been much more exegesis 
that has been homiletical. Modern Biblical science has 
brought us to a better use of the text. In such use we have 
come to a better type of Christian preaching. 

4. It is evident that topical preaching is a departure from 
the primitive type. It is, in some sort, a concession to secular 
culture. It may have had its origin in the eulogistic oratory 
of the patristic and post-patristic periods, or in the discourses 
commemorative of the martyrs of the church. It was more 



TEXTUAL BASIS OF THE WORK 97 

fully developed, as above noted, by scholasticism. Modern 
culture has appropriated it. It is a necessary and legitimate 
concession to it, but it is a concession. Classical oratory fur- 
nished the original type of the pulpit oration, and classical 
rhetoric furnished the original theory of it. The culture of 
our day has modified this to meet the demands of modern 
types of rhetoric and oratory. Topical preaching is artistic 
preaching. It furnishes a sphere — and at its best a good one — 
for the legitimate arts of the rhetorician and orator. Many of 
the most brilliant and effective sermons of the modern pulpit 
have been pulpit orations and most of the great doctrinal ser- 
mons of the last three centuries have been topical. They were 
orations or rhetorical disquisitions or addresses on religious 
themes. The use of a single passage as text is connected with 
the topical method, and was not common before the scholastic 
period. Preaching without any text is relatively modern. It 
is one of the developments, if not one of the abuses, of the 
topical method, is exceptional and questionably experimental. 
There is demand for topical preaching. It has enhanced the 
power of the pulpit, but its value will depend upon the spirit 
and the method of the preacher. It is here that the personal 
factor in preaching has free range. This may be a great gain 
or a great loss. It depends on the man. It may at least be 
said that whenever Christian preaching has wandered from a 
Christian basis, it has generally followed the topical method. 
This may be illustrated by the preaching of the deistic and 
rationalistic schools of theological thinkers. 

II. The Value of the Text 
The text is not a fetish. To treat it as such is demoralizing. 
A superstitious veneration of the Bible, or a conservative 
homiletic habit furnishes no good reason for attaching it to 
one's sermon. If a preacher has no use for a text, there is 
no use in his having it. The man who thinks he must have a 



98 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

text is likely to twist it, no matter how pious his purpose. The 
question before us is one of positive value, not of conventional 
or superstitious use. No preacher has the vocation to defend 
the use of texts unless he finds them worth while. 

I. The significance of the text settles in general the ques- 
tion of its material value, and its material value is the chief 
thing. That the text is a guide to the sermon is an important 
consideration, but that it is in any sense the source of the mat- 
ter of the sermon is still more important. I am inclined to 
think that the more Biblical, especially the more Christian, 
one's conception of the nature and object of one's preaching is 
— the more important the text will appear. Reversely also, it is 
possible that an intelligent estimate of its value may favorably 
affect the whole tone of one's preaching. The text at any 
rate binds one to a Biblical content of truth. If the text 
were wholly abandoned, it is likely that we should in no long 
time see the result in the character of preaching. The text 
demands something distinctive of the preacher. It puts him 
under certain limitations. Preaching must have some sort of 
anchorage. Biblical anchorage, at any rate, holds one within 
Biblical limits. Preaching that has anchored directly back to 
dogmatic theology, or to naturalistic ethics has never given 
texts a fair chance. Coming back to a Biblical anchorage 
ground, preaching has given texts a better chance to show 
what they can do for it, and what they can do for the preacher 
as well as for the hearer. The preacher is much less likely to 
stray into outside fields who recognizes himself as anchored to 
a Christian text. Preaching of this sort is in harmony with 
the needs of a worshipping assembly, and will perhaps be less 
individualistic, or rather erratic. Preaching without texts has 
often been of a degenerate type. Not infrequently it has been 
divorced from worship. The preaching monks of the Latin 
church, in degenerate periods have done this and have 
harangued the populace in addresses without texts. The ex- 



TEXTUAL BASIS OF THE WORK 99 

ample would not be a valuable one, and its influence upon the 
Protestant pulpit could not fail to be detrimental. Scholastic 
preaching sometimes abandoned texts. Scholastic proposi- 
tions could easily be deduced independently of them. They 
were of but little dialectical value. I direct attention once 
more to the fact that our better modern knowledge of the Bible 
has increased rather than diminished the preacher's respect 
for Biblical texts. It is hardly worth while, therefore, for the 
preacher of our day to follow in this matter degenerate periods 
and degenerate usage. 

2. But it has a formal as well as a material, a rhetorical 
as well as a logical value. Its use, for example, promotes 
concentration and unity in preaching. For it binds the sermon 
back upon some definite center, and binds its parts together. 
The thought derived from it, or suggested by it, or at least so 
passed through it as to take substance and color from it, being 
pervasive of every part of the sermon, it conditions a process 
of homiletic limitation throughout. The first limitation is, 
of course, in the text itself. One can not get all there is in a 
text out into a sermon, even in the textual use of it. This 
is especially true of the topical sermon. One selects either the 
main thought or some subordinate thought as the basis of 
discussion, and excludes all else. The limiting process starts 
here. Then it passes over into the theme. For one can have 
no more in his theme than he selects from his text. The 
limitation appears also in the introduction. For one selects 
here only what properly introduces his subject, as based upon 
the limitation of text and theme. Then it appears in the plan 
and discussion. For one can use here only what is legitimately 
drawn out of his theme. And, of course, one wants nothing 
in the conclusion but what is legitimate to the discussion. The 
whole movement from text to conclusion, although a process 
of expansion is also a process of limitation. Nor are the limits 
too narrow. For they condition concentration and unity, and 



ioo THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

so strength as well as definiteness of impression. A sermon of 
this sort may range very widely, but it will be within legitimate 
limits. Thus by conditioning concentration and unity, the text 
becomes tributary to rhetorical effectiveness. A loose, mis- 
cellaneous range in preaching does not promote effectiveness. 
A straggling, disjointed sermon is the weakest sort of sermon. 

The use of the text also promotes variety, variety in sub- 
ject matter, but also variety in form. Each text furnishes 
its own proper theme, hence there will be as many themes as 
texts. Hence wide range in preaching. Here again limita- 
tion involves range. To select what is distinctive in the text 
as basis for the discussion is to give one's preaching broad 
scope. Every text, if it is worth using as a text, suggests 
some phase of a subject. In general, it is a good homiletic 
device to recognize and select just this phase for discussion. 
The use of the passage as a text at all, so far as this is prac- 
ticable, seems to call for it. Consider for a moment the many 
and various aspects of a single important truth that may be 
presented by following the natural suggestiveness of indi- 
vidual texts. In general it were well if didactic preaching 
especially were to follow the lead of such texts. Texts 
are for the most part concrete and specific, not abstract and 
general. They take color from their environment. The 
use of them in their individual characteristics, therefore, pro- 
motes not only concreteness and definiteness but variety also. 
What has been said relates largely to variety in subject matter. 
But it has a bearing upon form, for we get as many types of 
sermons, as well as specific subjects, as there are texts, e. g., 
the historical, biographical, doctrinal, ethical, aesthetic, descrip- 
tive, evangelistic, textual, topical, according to the quality of the 
text. The text conditions form and type. And all this condi- 
tions tone also, for the sermon, if it is true to its text, will echo 
its spirit. Now all this enriches preaching. 

And this leads to the suggestion that the use of the text 



TEXTUAL BASIS OF THE WORK 101 

promotes productiveness in preaching. It quickens thought, it 
stimulates the imagination, it intensifies emotion, and thus 
promotes invention. One of the interesting things in the study 
of modern preachers is the variety, wealth and suggestiveness 
of their preaching as conditioned by their use of Biblical texts. 
It is a notable characteristic that they are inclined to select 
quickening texts, texts that suggest thought by some fruitful 
principle of mental association. Examine the products of 
almost any characteristic modern preacher and it will be seen 
how greatly the preaching is enriched by it. Even the old 
allegorizing preachers of the better and more temperate sort 
have their lesson for us. No professional man does so much, 
so varied and so difficult intellectual work as the modern 
preacher. It would be utterly impossible for him, without the 
use of suggestive texts, to produce the same amount and 
quality of material that is now produced every week. No man 
but a rhetorical genius could do it. Men like Cardinal New- 
man have preached exceptional sermons to exceptional congre- 
gations without texts. Pastoral preachers have rarely, if 
ever, done it. No man, in our day, especially, can spin out of 
his own personal, independent, inner resources two religious 
orations, or disquisitions or addresses every week and 
expect to live or to be effective for any considerable length 
of time. 

The above considerations, it may be submitted, in general, 
answer the objections that have been brought against the use 
of texts. These objections have been to a large extent from 
the rhetorical point of view, and the topical method has been 
assumed as the basis of judgment. Three classes of critics 
have questioned their value. There is the man of a strongly 
individualistic tone. The pulpit individualist wants more 
rhetorical swing than he fancies will be possible when anchored 
to a text. There is also the preacher that has been trained 
in the topical method and is a rhetorician. He too wants 



102 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

scope for his rhetorical impulses. Then there is the preacher 
of a rationalistic bias, and he is impatient, not only of his limi- 
tations as to rhetorical form and as to the aesthetic interest of 
the sermon, but of his assumed limitations of material that 
diminish the didactic effectiveness of the sermon. To sum 
up the main objections; they are as follows: Texts can not 
be found to fit the necessary themes. If the fit is made, in 
many cases it must be by forcing it. The use of texts thins 
out preaching. Limited by his text, the preacher unduly ex- 
pands his matter. The use results in stereotyped method. 
Lack of range from text limitation involves lack of variety. 
Hence stereotyped method. The use limits the range of truths 
discussed. Thus modern themes are excluded. It will be 
noticed that some of these objections are from the material 
point of view. The text limits the use of material. But most of 
them are based on the assumption that the use of texts limits 
the rhetorical effectiveness of preaching, and on the assump- 
tion that the topical method furnishes the only adequate criti- 
cal point of view. It will be seen also that they are really a 
reaction against an abuse of the textual method. Well, if one 
allegorizes his text, he will, of course, force it to fit his theme, 
and may do it illegitimately. But a proper study of methods 
of correspondence will show that this is by no means neces- 
sary. If one selects unsuggestive or small and barren texts, 
his preaching may be thin. But it may be the man rather 
than the text that is responsible for this quality. If one uses 
all texts in about the same way, and that an unsuggestive, un- 
imaginative way, of course the preaching will be stereotyped. 
But here too it is the man, not his texts, that is responsible. 
If one uses his texts in a prosaic manner, if he has no skill 
in adjusting them to the current thought of his day, he may 
shut out modern themes. But all these objections fall flat 
before the right conception and habit in the use of texts, 
whether after the textual or the topical method. What has 



TEXTUAL BASIS OF THE WORK 103 

been said seems to me conclusive as to the rhetorical value of 
texts, and equally conclusive as to their material value. 

But any man may settle it practically. One has only to 
examine it in the light of the best modern preaching. Take 
the sermons of any good preacher of our day, and examine 
carefully the influence of his texts upon the matter, structure, 
tone and rhetorical style of his sermons. If it is perfectly 
evident that these texts make little or no con- 
tribution to the preaching, if the preaching might 
conceivably be equally wealthy in its suggestiveness, if 
just as good matter, form, tone, style were possible without 
them, then the case of the critic will stand. But I submit 
that no man who knows the facts can successfully defend the 
case of the critic. Test the question by critical investigation. 
If this is not satisfactory, test it by personal experiment. 

III. Logical and Rhetorical Qualities of the Text 
By the logical qualities of the text is meant the relations of 
thought within the text itself, or the form of the text as related 
to its connections of thought. By its rhetorical qualities is 
meant those qualities that are essential to clear, definite and 
forceful impression. 

1. The logical demand upon the form of the text is com- 
plexity, — that is the text must contain more than a single 
thought. It must be so complex in character that it may be 
put into some form of statement. By it some definite related 
thought must be expressed. It must contain the elements of 
a proposition. It must, therefore, have the elements, not 
necesarily the full form but implicitly at least the elements 
of a grammatical sentence, with subject and predicate. A 
single word, therefore, is never a proper text. It suggests no 
relation of thought within itself. It is a single unrelated con- 
cept. The writer once heard a sermon from the word "there- 
fore." The theme, if memory serves correctly, was the use 



104 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

of reason in religion. The sermon had no text. It furnished 
a remote basis for suggestion, but it contained no definitely 
suggested thought. It affirmed nothing, denied nothing, in 
fact suggested nothing specifically. It had no relations of 
thought. It led no whither. One might as well have taken 
the word "Universe'' as a text. Bishop Huntington has a 
sermon entitled "Names and Elements of the great change," 
based on the word "conversion." It is not a text, it contains 
no affirmation that affords a basis for discussion. It simply 
opens a boundless range of thought in all conceivable direc- 
tions. It contains no suggestion that it is one of the names 
of the great change. Much less does it suggest other names 
or elements of the change. It does not cover what is discussed 
in the sermon. Regeneration would have been more fully in- 
clusive of Faith, Repentence, and Reformation, as well as of 
Conversion itself. But that would not have been a text. Nothing 
in the way of conciseness is gained by the use of a single 
word as text, or as someone has called it, pretext, as this ser- 
mon shows. What the preacher needs in his text is a complex 
of related thoughts. This demand for complexity is regu- 
lative for the use of two or more passages as text. In such 
use the common difficulty is that they do not readily furnish a 
single complex unified thought as theme. They are likely to 
furnish isolated and ununified thoughts. Take as an example 
of proper use, Bishop Huntington's sermon entitled "The 
Cross a Burden and a Glory," from Matt. 27, 32. (Simon 
bearing the Cross) and Gal. 6: 14 ("God forbid etc."). This 
is one complex theme if we understand the burden and 
the glory as one complex contrasted thought to be discussed 
in its contrasted relations under each topic of the sermon, 
rather than discussed under different topics, i.e., first, the 
burden and then the glory. For this contrast between the 
burden and the glory must be manifest throughout the sermon. 
The theme suggests the contrast and the sermon should keep 



TEXTUAL BASIS OF THE WORK 105 

the contrast always before the mind. The preacher uses the 
text in this way. It is, therefore, legitimately used. Take 
also the sermon by the same preacher entitled "Christ Our 
Prophet, Priest and King," from John 6: 14 (Prophet). Heb. 
2:17 (Priest). John 18:33, 36 (King). The preacher 
discusses each of these functions separately, each passage 
furnishing a separate topic. A phase of the entire theme is not 
discussed under each topic, but only a fragment of it. In fact 
it is not the theme but the divisions that are discussed. The 
statement of the theme is rather a statement of the topics of 
the theme. The theme is a complex thought embracing all 
three elements. These elements should have been discussed 
in their relations. The threefold function of Christ or Christ 
in his threefold relation to men would be a proper statement of 
the theme. From this as a basis, each topic might legitimately 
be discussed separately. 

2. The rhetorical demand upon the form of the text is 
that it shall express its thought clearly, definitely and force- 
fully. By which is meant that only so much of a passage may 
well be taken as will promote those rhetorical interests. There 
are writers who insist that a complete grammatical structure 
is always necessary in the form of the text. It should be a 
complete grammatical sentence. The point of view is the 
textual and expository method. It is a reaction against the 
use of single words, that mean nothing,* or of disjointed frag- 
ments that pervert the meaning of Scripture. Of course 
textual and expository preaching demands the full form of the 
text passage. But some who hold the topical point of view 
make the same claim.f The ideal here is the statement of the 
theme in logical or propositional form. This certainly 
demands a complete grammatical sentence. Otherwise it is 
not even desirable. Some of the best texts are short f rag- 



*Claude. "On the Composition of Sermon. 
tSee Phelps. "The Theory of Preaching." 



106 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

ments. They are properly the basis of themes stated in rhe- 
torical form, e. g., Heb. 7 : 26, "Separate from sinners" 
(Brooks). James 1 : 27, "Unspotted from the world.'" 
"Spotted Lives" (Brooks). Rev. 1:9, "The Kingdom and 
Patience of Jesus Christ" (Bushnell). "A Man in Christ." 
"Without God in the World." These passages are clear, defi- 
nite, pithy, although mere fragments. They encourage a vig- 
orous, sententious, suggestive type of preaching. Preachers 
like Bishop Brooks, who put their themes in rhetorical form 
use such texts. Neither, as has been claimed, is the whole of 
a connected passage necessary. In discussing 2 Cor. 1 : 3, 4. 
Claude insists that the entire passage should be used. To use 
only a fragment would mutilate it. He is, of course, right 
from the textual point of view. But Professor Phelps, whose 
point of view is topical, insists that no part of a connected 
passage should be left out. This is arbitrary in a topical 
preacher. If one does not need the whole passage, why pre- 
tend to use it as text? If one can get a clear, definite 
thought out of it, why not use it as a fragment? e. g., 
2 Pet. 5 : 6, "add to your faith * * * temperance." This 
conveys a perfectly clear, definite thought and expresses 
it forcefully. Brevity is necessary to forcefulness as 
well as in general to clearness and definiteness. Vigor- 
ous preachers who affect the rhetorical form in state- 
ment of the theme, and who are not expository 
preachers, as Dr. Joseph Parker was, or textual as Robert- 
son was, choose short texts. For the topical preacher such 
texts are highly desirable. They are strong, incisive, impres- 
sive texts, e. g., "The blood of sprinkling that speaketh." "I 
have called thee by thy name." "Christ who is our Life." 
Short, pithy, energetic. They are homiletically suggestive and 
disclose the wealth of the Scriptures for pulpit use. Con- 
crete, especially figurative or poetic texts are tributary to 
forcefulness and impressiveness, and for the most part to 



TEXTUAL BASIS OF THE WORK 107 

clearness. Not only the attractiveness, but in large measure 
the impressiveness of Bishop Brooks' preaching is conditioned 
by his selection of short and largely of concrete, figurative 
texts. 



CHAPTER IV 

EXEGETICAL BASIS OF THE PREACHER'S WORK 

The proper subject matter of preaching can not of course 
be determined independently of exegesis. In its homiletic 
relations exegesis deals properly with two main questions. 
The first question concerns itself with the original, historic 
sense of any given passage of Scriptures, i. e., the sense as 
it lay in the mind of the writer. The second question con- 
cerns itself with the truth and value of the passage for homi- 
letic use. First the true, original meaning of the text. Sec- 
ond, its worth as truth for preaching use. Exegesis and 
criticism answer these questions. Without an answer to 
them no one can be sure that he has a proper theme for his 
sermon. It is expected of the preacher, therefore, that he 
will be a competent exegete and critic. He is a popular 
interpreter. But popular exposition must be based on scien- 
tific exegesis. Let us, therefore, look at these exegetical 
and critical problems. Their homiletical bearings will justify 
the discussion. 

I. The first question relates to the historic sense. Modern 
exegesis has anchored here. But for the preacher exegetical 
investigation has wide range. It is a very complex problem. 

i. It is first of all a textual question. It starts here. For 
the preacher textual criticism has a very practical interest. 
We must, if possible, get at the original form of the text. An 
unsound textual basis is so far forth an unsound homiletic 
basis. Some textual corruptions are, indeed, of no practical 
importance. There may be no material change in the mean- 
ing of the passage, or a better meaning may have been se- 



EXEGETICAL BASIS OF THE WORK 109 

cured by the change, or at least a meaning equally good and 
true. The original meaning of the passage may be uncer- 
tain, but it may not in either form be compromised for pulpit 
use. Romans 12:11 may read "Serving the Lord," or "Serv- 
ing the Opportunity," i. e., serving the Lord with a fervent 
spirit, or making earnest judicious use of the opportunities 
of life, and so being wise as well as fervent. Either reading 
makes a good text. It does not matter which one selects, 
unless it becomes perfectly clear which is the original reading. 
But apologetic and ecclesiastical changes are more serious. 
What sound criticism rejects here, the pulpit should reject. 
The Revision has led the way in securing a pure text for the 
pulpit. It is well to follow it in choosing texts. But the 
preacher can not justify himself in failing to make a careful 
examination of all important contested passages. 

2. It is a grammatical question. "Grammar," says 
Immer,* "is and must remain the foundation of all exegesis." 
It is a question of words and sentences, of vocabulary and 
syntax. There is no ghostly science that can teach us the gram- 
matical sense of sacred words. "The Scriptures," says Me- 
lanchthon, quoted by Immer, "cannot be understood theolog- 
ically unless they are understood grammatically." We know 
what is meant only when we know what is said. The best 
exegetes of our day are grammatical exegetes, Meyer, Pflei- 
derer, Ellicott, even Alford. Far better than homiletic or 
theological exegetes, like Lange and Olshausern, are Cremer, 
Wiener, Buttman and Trench. They are of great value for 
the pulpit. We make a beginning with grammatical exegesis. 
With this as a foundation, the theological exegetes, who deal 
with the course of thought, may be of value. We owe Ger- 
man scholarship a great debt of gratitude for the work it has 
done in textual and grammatical criticism. It is true that 
in preaching one may move far from the historic sense of the 



*Hermeneutics, page 99, passim. 



no THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

text, provided he moves on a legitimate line. But no one 
can know where he is going, or whether he is going in a 
legitimate direction, without knowing his starting-point. No 
preacher can fully justify his theme unless at the outset he 
knows what the writer meant to say. The historic sense is 
always the proper starting-point. Here the Revision comes 
to the preacher's aid. It has ruined some old translations, 
corrected some old readings, and has wiped out some hymns, 
e. g., Acts 26:28, "Almost persuaded." The first question in 
homiletics is the question of exegetical legitimacy and without 
grammatical comprehension, there can be no assurance of 
such legitimacy. 

3. It is a contextual question. Individual thought is 
known only by related thought. A text-passage is part of a 
larger whole. Biblical theology has enlarged the scope of 
our investigation into the context. It is often necessary to 
get at the scope of an entire document in order to get the full 
sense of a single passage. Biblical introduction is increas- 
ingly important for the work of the pulpit. The preaching of 
Robertson strikingly illustrates the value of mastering the 
course of thought for the use of particular passages. He 
knew Paul's "root-thoughts." Hence he knew better the 
meaning of individual passages. His method of investigation 
was a combination of analysis and synthesis, e. g., the tracing 
through in detail of the thought of a book and then reversing 
the process and bringing to bear upon these details once 
more the knowledge of it as a whole thus gained. This is, 
of course, the only adequate method for an expository 
preacher. Robertson mastered Paul's theology as a whole, 
mastered the whole course of thought in a particular docu- 
ment, was able to compare it with other documents, and so 
was the better able to interpret and use wisely and sugges- 
tively individual passages. He who knows the aim of the 
whole can best interpret the parts. This is one reason why 



EXEGETICAL BASIS OF THE WORK in 

Robertson is so reasonable, so clear and so helpful a preacher. 

The defect, on the contrary, of such preachers as Spurgeon, 
is that they have no solid exegesis under their preaching. It 
does not edify intelligent students of the Bible. It does not 
edify because it does not correctly instruct. Such preachers 
ignore the context, or misapprehend it. What they can get 
out of the individual text by some process of fruitful sugges- 
tion is the important thing. No matter whether legitimate 
or not, so it be fruitfully suggestive. The text is isolated and 
treated independently and is made to mean anything the 
preacher's fancy is pleased to find in it. It is often, doubtless, 
very ingenious preaching, but often grotesque and offensive 
to sound exegetical, as well in fact to sound homiletic judg- 
ment. It is not in harmony with the sobriety and rationality 
of our better exegetical and homiletic methods. This was 
the sin of the old allegorical method. It ignored the context. 
It assumed that the individual passage contained an absolute 
fullness of inspiration, even to the words and punctuation. 
Each passage, indeed, had several meanings. To develop 
these hidden meanings and to bring out for edification this 
fullness of the mind of the spirit was the task of the preacher. 
Whatever, by any most remote principle of mental associa- 
tion, or by mere verbal suggestion, that has no mental associa- 
tion, is suggested by the individual passage, is included in 
the inspired word. This, of course, is based, not only on 
false notions of exegesis and homiletics, but of the Bible 
itself, as well as of revelation and inspiration. It is mastery 
of the course of thought that saves preaching from this sort 
of fancifulness. 

4. It is sometimes a doctrinal question, doctrinal in the 
Biblical sense. Biblical writers must interpret themselves 
and help interpret each other. In order to understand them 
we must first isolate them, examine their teachings by them- 
selves and then compare them. Biblical theology is based 



ii2 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

upon this principle. How will one understand adequately 
Paul's teachings, for example, in the E'phesian and Colossian 
letters, if we may regard them as Pauline, without comparing 
or contrasting them with the teachings of the Thessalonian 
or the Roman and Galatian letters? But we have the task 
also of comparing one writer with another. This gives the 
old exegetical principle of the "analogy of faith" a new mean- 
ing. It is the analogy of Biblical, not dogmatic faith, and 
this demands thorough Biblical investigation. But the stress- 
point here is that only by such investigation shall we secure 
the fullest guidance for the interpretation of particular doc- 
trinal passages. Expository preaching from Paul's writings, 
for example, would be inadequate and unsatisfactory without 
such investigation. Texts are properly studied independently 
of dogmatic theology, but never independently of Biblical 
theology. The analogy of dogmatic faith, upon which such 
stress has been laid in times past, has perverted the use of 
texts. The old doctrinal proof texts are for the most part 
worthless. We make the Biblical writers interpret them- 
selves and each other, and this furnishes a basis not only for 
a system of Biblical theology, but in general for more correct 
as well as more practical and useful work in the pulpit. 

5. It is a historical question. That is, it involves study 
of the conditions under which the Biblical writers wrote, the 
conditions that affected their education and habits of thought. 
It makes use of Biblical Introduction. We know more in 
our day than was ever known before about the Holy Land, 
and oriental countries contiguous, about the Hebrew race and 
commonwealth and their history, about contemporary 
nations and civilizations, about other religions, about early 
Christianity and the early church and about the influence of 
contemporaneous philosophic and theologic thought upon 
them, about those to whom the early Christian writers wrote 
and about their conditions. In a word, we know more about 



EXEGETICAL BASIS OF THE WORK 113 

time, place, circumstances, conditions, environment. That is, 
we know the Bible historically as it has never been known 
before. This knowledge, coming from a very great variety 
of sources, has been a long time accumulating and a great 
amount of it has become a common possession. The Bible, 
therefore, is a more real book to intelligent Christian people 
than it has ever been before. Knowledge of these things 
makes exegetical and Biblical science more real, and it makes 
preaching more real. It makes the life of Christ more real. 
The realistic biography of Christ is a product of our age. All 
this throws light upon the meaning of Scripture texts, and 
preaching, influenced by this historic spirit, method and pro- 
duct, becomes more reasonable. Even a modicum of this 
knowledge will make itself known and felt in the pulpit. All 
intelligent preachers of our day are under its influence. 

6. It is a rhetorical, or better, a literary question. A lit- 
erary sense is an important factor in exegetical and homi- 
letic sense. No one knows the Bible aright, and no one 
can use it aright without knowledge of its literary and rhe- 
torical character. The rhetoric as well as dialectic of the 
Bible is distinctly oriental. Theology and especially preach- 
ing has been greatly enriched by the recognition of this fact. 
The influence of Herder and of the German romanticists 
marked an epoch not only in Biblical investigation, but in 
preaching. In the most attractive and impressive manner, 
it directed attention to the poetic character of the Bible, 
especially of the Old Testament. One of the best products 
of the genius of Prof. Park of Andover was an article, orig- 
inally a sermon entitled "The Theology of the Intellect and 
the Theology of the Feelings," in which the poetic and emo- 
tional character of the Biblical writings is recognized. One 
of the most striking of Dr. Horace Bushnell's products is 
his article "Christianity a Gift to Our Imagination." It con- 
tained a recognition of the literary character of the Bible 



ii4 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

which was a premonition of genius. The only good work in 
theology Matthew Arnold ever did was in directing attention 
to the literary character of the Bible and to the need of lit- 
erary sense in interpreting it, and it is this chiefly that makes 
"Literature and Dogma" respectable. The influence of men 
like Renan, whatever our estimate otherwise of their critical 
work, has been strong, and in much salutary in this direction. 
Biblical critics in this country, like Prof. Briggs, indeed all 
the more intelligent teachers of Biblical theology in our theo- 
logical institutions have made this a commonplace among 
intelligent preachers and even among intelligent laymen. In 
all intelligent communities it affects the work of the pulpit. 
An investigation of the rhetorical and dialectical methods of 
the Bible, particularly of the books of the Old Testament, 
and especially of the books of Job and of Isaiah, and in the 
New Testament of the writings of Paul would be a most 
interesting and fruitful line of investigation for any preacher. 
7. It is a religious question. A religiously sympathetic 
spirit in the study of the Bible is of great importance with ref- 
erence to results in pulpit use. Christian preaching is im- 
possible without assumptions. One of the preacher's assump- 
tions is that the Bible contains a word of God. One's early 
education pre-commits one to this pre-supposition. It will 
not, indeed, dominate any intelligent and candid man in his 
Biblical investigation. The Bible should be studied as any 
other book is studied. But the result of one's study as well 
as one's early education will surely be in the case of any 
devout theist the intelligent conviction of the exceptional 
religious character of the Bible, and this will constitute a 
homiletic assumption. One cannot begin his work in the 
pulpit, without the assumption, or if one please, the intelligent 
conviction, that he is dealing with the religion of revelation 
and of redemption. This religion is to be applied to the 
needs of men, else why do we use the Bible at all? We may 



EXEGETICAL BASIS OF THE WORK 115 

appropriate this assumption in our investigation for pulpit 
use as the saintly Bengel did for exegetical use. The preach- 
er's attitude toward the Bible is, therefore, somewhat pecu- 
liar. He investigates it for preaching use in the main as Jhe 
would any other book, but in some respects in a different 
way. He begins, continues and ends his work in special 
sympathy with its exalted character and purpose. Only in 
this state of mind may one properly enter the pulpit. The 
preacher's aim is precisely the aim of redemptive revelation 
itself. This, of course, does not require that one should 
suspend all critical judgments. Biblical criticism is subject 
to the same canons that govern all other lines of critical 
investigation. But without the religious spirit, sympathetic 
with the spirit of the Book, it is impossible even to understand 
the meaning of the truths investigated. Indeed, without it, it 
may be impossible adequately to get at the meaning of the 
Scriptures, that record these truths. Especially necessary is 
this spirit in enabling the preacher to interpret the ideal con- 
tent of revelation behind the historic form. The presupposi- 
tion of the ideal content is the presence of God in human his- 
tory, his presence especially in the history of Israel, in the 
way of redemptive revelation. It is this that furnishes the 
key to the interpretation of the connection between the He- 
brew and Christian Scriptures. Only by the assumption of 
this ideal content in the Bible is it saved to best use in the 
Christian pulpit. 

Now, of course, the kind of work here outlined will require 
a lifetime for its accomplishment. It need hardly be said 
that it cannot be successfully applied in detail to the study of 
individual Scriptures. It is not a programme for textual 
investigation. In the long run and in the large result it will 
be found that the best study of the Bible for pulpit use is a 
general and comprehensive study of it and not merely a study 
of individual texts. This comprehensive study will furnish 



n6 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

an ever-enlarging and enriching basis for pulpit work. The 
more comprehensive and thorough one's general exegetical 
studies, the greater ease and facility will one acquire in apply- 
ing their results to the investigation of individual texts. It 
is constant and varied exegetical practice that develops exe- 
getical tact and facility in the homiletic interest. 

II. The second exegetical problem, or problem in Biblical 
criticism, concerns the truth of the text and its value for 
homiletic use. The question is, how much weight shall be 
attached to the thought or sentiment of a given passage, 
either in its historic and primary, or in its secondary or 
hidden sense, if indeed it have such sense, which is itself a 
critical question. The preacher can not settle offhand the 
question whether the Bible has an ideal content. He may 
idealize his text, he may give it a homiletic turn that is quite 
remote from its original meaning. But the question whether 
the idealizing process entered the Scriptures themselves is a 
critical, not a homiletic question. Now one must be able to 
answer this critical question if he would secure the best homi- 
letic use or even the right use of texts. Particularly impor- 
tant is this in didactic preaching, in which the success of the 
sermon depends on correct teaching and on securing correct 
mental judgments. We may not assume that a given text is 
of unconditional homiletic value simply because it is found 
inside the covers of the Bible. In fact it has never been 
assumed practically, however it may have been theoretically, 
even in very dark periods, that any given passage of Scrip- 
ture is the very word of God simply because it is recorded 
there. An infallible inspiration of the record could never 
change the quality of a thought or sentiment. It could not 
make it true if it were false in itself, or good if it were bad. 
Nor could it dominate our estimate of it, so long as we have 
a Christian conscience and Christian intelligence left. Texts 
differ widely in their weight and worth. And the range is 



EXEGETICAL BASIS OF THE WORK 117 

all the way from the absolute in value down to the worthless 
and possibly positively pernicious, if not rightly understood 
and used. Now it is the task of criticism to test the value 
of texts as regards the quality and measure of their truth and 
as regards their fitness for pulpit use. We must apply the 
proper doctrinal, ethical and historical, critical and exegetical 
standards for the purpose of testing their validity and worth. 
These standards are furnished in part by processes of induc- 
tive investigation into the phenomena of the New Testament 
Scriptures. They are made available by the science of Bibli- 
cal theology which gathers up its results from Biblical criti- 
cism. The one supreme doctrinal, and ethical and so practical 
historic standard that is available for the purpose is found 
in the New Testament. The mind of Christ as it appears 
in the life of Christ and is disclosed in the New Testa- 
ment and as interpreted according to sound exegetical prin- 
ciples is our test for the worth of all possible Biblical 
texts. 

It would be impossible to classify Biblical texts exhaus- 
tively and to apply this test with reference to the question of 
use and thus to determine their value in such way as would 
be universally satisfactory. It may, however, be possible to 
suggest a few classes of texts with respect to which an intelli- 
gent preacher will find it necessary to apply the proper criti- 
cal tests in order to determine their worth for homiletic use. 

1. Historical and biographical texts. One may not as- 
sume unconditionally and uncritically that all Biblical pas- 
sages which in form have the appearance of being historical 
are really such in objective fact. It is a well-substantiated 
critical discovery that the Bible abounds in what is called 
idealized history. The historic form is adopted as a literary 
device for the purpose of conveying, not historic truth, but 
moral and religious truth. Such, it is claimed, is the book 
of Jonah. This question can not be settled by dogmatic 



n8 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

affirmation, or by blind adherence to tradition. Whether in 
a given passage or book we have idealized history or whether 
we have truth under the form of myth is a critical and a lit- 
erary question. We must apply the requisite critical and 
literary tests in order to answer that question. This becomes 
practically important especially in all cases where correct 
Biblical teaching is involved. It is not safe in the long run, 
or in the short run for that matter, to claim more for any 
portion of the Bible than the case will justify. It is not safe 
to confound ideal with actual history. 

2. Prophetic texts. There are Scriptures in both the Old 
and New Testaments that claim to be prophetic in the sense 
of predictive. If a correct report of his words has reached 
us, our Lord interpreted the words of Psalm no as such. 
But it is evident enough that the so-called predictive passages 
vary very greatly in their approximations to historic fact, in 
their conceptions of the Messianic King to whom they are 
supposed to relate, and in their correspondences to the reali- 
ties of his historic personage. The value of these Scrip- 
tures must be determined ultimately in the light of the New 
Testament revelation of Christ. It is necessary to find out 
in what sense and to what extent they are predictive. It is 
necessary, also, to judge how far New Testament writers 
were right or wrong in attaching a predictive significance to 
them. In order to do this satisfactorily, we must have and 
apply some knowledge of the nature and conditions of pre- 
dictive utterance, and of the place which prediction holds in 
the gift of prophecy. Critical exegesis as applied to both the 
Old and New Testament Scriptures, that contain prophetic 
elements, gives us the knowledge we need. The value of 
these Scriptures for homiletic use will depend on the correct- 
ness of our conception of their prophetic character. They 
have, without doubt, done duty somewhat indiscriminately, 
uncritically and illegitimately in times past. They should do 



EXEGETICAL BASIS OF THE WORK 119 

duty more discriminately in the future, and it is perfectly 
evident that they will do so. 

3. Typical texts. It is a difficult thing for the ordinary 
student of the Old Testament to resist the impression that 
there is therein a typical or ideal element. Personages, 
events, experiences, institutions, ordinances are regarded as 
typical of what is to emerge in future periods of God's King- 
dom. It is a very radical, destructive, and, one may be per- 
mitted to add, an extremely capricious criticism that would 
deny it. It is only a form of historic parallelism. There is 
a certain inner principle of harmony between the old and the 
new life and order, although differing widely in form. One 
age contains types or ideals of future ages, because we have 
a historic development of redemptive revelation. Our Lord 
seems to have recognized and authenticated this ideal con- 
tent in the Old Testament. What emerged under the old 
order never fully realized itself historically under the old 
forms. Many Old Testament Scriptures seem to be typically 
prophetic of the Messianic King and of his experiences. Most 
New Testament citations from the Old Testament are from 
this class of Scriptures, among them some of our Lord's 
citations. But it must be acknowledged that they vary in 
value, in theological value and especially in homiletic value. 
In the hands of many New Testament writers they have 
doubtless been over-worked. This is the case especially with 
the author of the first Gospel, and of the Epistle to the He- 
brews. It is entirely possible to over-press them and to find 
types where none exist. The Christian pulpit has outdone 
the New Testament writers. It is easy to confound an ille- 
gitimate allegorizing with a genuine and legitimate typolo- 
gizing. Even genuinely typical Scriptures differ as to the 
sort and measure of their inner relation with their anti-types. 
Critical exegesis settles for us the limit and the value of 
typology. A sound knowledge of Biblical typology, won in 



120 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

the light of all the best and the fullest that may be ascertained 
in our day, is necessary to determine the value of typical 
Scriptures for pulpit use. It is especially important for the 
preacher to remember that what may be available for him in 
the pulpit by way of homiletic adaptation in accordance with 
some legitimate principle of associated ideas may not be avail- 
able for him exegetically. What may be true in homiletics may 
be false in exegesis. 

4. Allegorical texts. There is unquestionably in the New 
Testament an allegorical use of the Old Testament. That is, 
we find a fanciful and strained use of analogy. It appears 
in the Gospels, especially in the Epistle to the Hebrews, and 
even in the writings of Paul. There is a marked difference, as 
Tholuck has shown,* between Christ's use of the Old Testa- 
ment and that of the New Testament writers in general. It 
is the difference between real and fanciful likenesses, between 
a connection of thought that is internal and near at hand, and 
one that is relatively external and remote. The suffering 
servant of Jehovah (Is. 53) may be regarded as a true 
analogue of the suffering Messianic King. But Hagar and 
Ishmael as related to Sarah and Isaac in Paul's use in the 
Galatian letter are allegorized. They are fanciful analogies 
of the two covenants. Judiciously-used allegorized texts may 
be of value in preaching. But allegorizing should always be 
recognized as such. It may have its rhetorical uses. But it 
has no didactic value. A failure to recognize it as a rhetor- 
ical device has wrought much mischief in the pulpit. Now it is 
the science of New Testament Hermeneutics that will furnish 
a test of value for allegorizing, and we shall find in Christ's 
use of the principle of analogy a safe guide. No one is likely 
to make a legitimate use of the parables of our Lord in 
preaching who does not know that in exegesis they cannot 
be allegorized. He who recognizes this exegetical principle 

*Das Alte Testament im Neuen Testament. 



EXEGETICAL BASIS OF THE WORK 121 

is much more likely to make legitimate use of the analogies 
they contain. 

5. Doctrinal texts. Whether a given text may be used 
didactically, or whether it may be used to teach definite and 
explicit doctrines, is a critical question which must be settled 
in part by a knowledge of the literary or rhetorical character 
of the passage and perhaps of the book in which it is found. 
It is necessary to distinguish between the language of imagi- 
nation and feeling, the language of poetry or fiction and the 
language of the understanding, the language of mental judg- 
ment whose object is to convey a definite explicit teaching to 
the mind. Poetry and fiction should not be used to teach 
doctrine unless it be recognized as poetry or fiction, and 
unless the teaching is recognized as an inference from it 
conveyed to the mind through the imagination. Moreover, 
whether a given passage is true, or in what seems true, or to 
what extent true, is a critical question. The teaching of 
Christ in general furnishes a test for one's estimate of Old 
Testament teaching and of its worth for Christian preaching. 
"The truth as it is in Jesus" tests all half truths and all false 
utterances that are sometimes found in the Old Testament 
and in the New Testament as well. The value of the book of 
Ecclesiastes and of Job for direct, authoritative teaching, 
however striking their utterances, is quite limited. Their 
teachings should be recognized for what they are, and no 
false estimates should be tolerated in the pulpit. The 
preacher should know their value as sources of religious 
knowledge, and as a correct basis for preaching, before he 
can use them properly. When he understands them cor- 
rectly, then he is in position to use them legitimately. 

6. Ethical texts. The ethics of Christ to which the mind 
and conscience that are trained in the school of Christ always 
respond is the preacher's test for all Biblical ethics. Old 
Testament ethics needs constantly to be brought to this test, 



122 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

the imprecatory Psalms for example. Within the limits of 
this test, whatever there is in them of ethical value may be 
made use of by the Christian preacher. There are texts in 
both the New and Old Testament that in spirit and sentiment 
are grossly immoral, but in form they may convey valuable 
ethical suggestions. The words of Caiaphas for example, in 
John 1 1 : 49, 50, recall Robertson's sermon from them. The 
words of the Jewish ecclesiastics at the cross "He saved 
others; himself he cannot save." The words of Judas; "To 
what purpose is this waste?" Such texts have been used 
with good effect. But their real significance should never 
be ignored. Contrast is the only principle that makes them 
admissible. In a word, there is no assignable limit to the 
scope of the preacher's use of Scriptures that are doctrinately 
and ethically defective, provided their real character be duly 
recognized and provided they be adjusted to the Christian 
point of view. Robertson's sermon above referred to illus- 
trates the value of such texts. 



CHAPTER V 

HOMILETIC CORRESPONDENCES IN THE USE OF 

THE TEXT 

Exegesis, as we have already seen, guides but does not fix 
our limits in the homiletic use of texts. A text may receive 
a homiletic turn and use of which exegesis knows nothing 
whatever. The one supreme and inclusive interest in the use 
of the text is an adequate correspondence between the text 
and the sermon. As already suggested, the matter of the ser- 
mon must be drawn somehow legitimately out of the text or 
drawn through it so as to take fibre, color, shape and direc- 
tion from it and thus a correspondence be realized between 
the text and the substance, sentiment and object of the 
sermon. 

There are two correspondences that should be realized, cor- 
respondence of thought and correspondence of tone. We 
will consider them in order. 

I. Correspondence of thought. The thought-matter of 
a sermon must be evolved somehow from the thought-matter 
contained in or somehow suggested by the text. The sermon 
in its developed form harmonizes at every point with the 
thought that lies in the text, or is drawn out of it, or drawn 
through it by some legitimate process of suggestion. This 
correspondence may be direct and immediate, or it may be 
indirect and remote. The text may yield the material of 
thought by explicit declaration or by some process of infer- 
ence, deduction or suggestion. One may carry the thought 
of the text, the main or some subordinate thought straight 
over into the theme, or one may deduce it by some process 



124 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

of mental association, or by some sort of literary adaptation. 
Let us examine these two methods of correspondence, the 
direct or explicit and the indirect and implicit. 

i. The direct or explicit correspondence. The text states 
the theme in definite and explicit terms, sometimes in almost 
identical terms, e.g., James 4: 17, "To him that knoweth to 
do good," etc. Theme: "The sin of omission." James 
2:10. "For whosoever shall keep the whole law," etc. 
Theme : "Sin a violation of the law in its totality." Here the 
text at once determines the theme. One would not readily 
think of any other theme. Some other might be excogitated, 
but it would come by an indirect process. Reversely, the 
theme asks for just this text. Probably no other passage in 
the Bible would fit the theme so well. Such texts, if they 
can be found, are desirable in the discussion of weighty 
ethical or doctrinal subjects. That is a perfect text for such 
use of which you can say that it explicitly suggests but this 
one theme and that its theme could have but this one or at 
least no better text. It contains nothing less than the theme, 
and nothing from without is to be mentally supplied. It 
contains nothing more and nothing is to be thrown out as 
irrelevant. It contains nothing other, and nothing is to be 
modified and adjusted. John 3 : 7, "Ye must be born again." 
Theme : "The Necessity of the New Birth." The exact 
thought. Compare John 3 15, "Except a man be born of 
water and of spirit," etc., or John 3 :6, "That which is born of 
the flesh is flesh," etc. The two latter passages contain the 
necessity of the new birth inferentially ; at least they do not 
affirm it explicitly. And they contain many other possible 
themes, e.g., The Value of Baptism; The Need of the Holy 
Spirit in Regeneration ; The Conditions of Participation in the 
Kingdom of God, may come from John 3 15. The Law of 
Heredity ; The Possibilities of Ancestral Piety may come 
from John 3 :6. Relatively few texts furnish but a single 



HOMILETIC CORRESPONDENCES 125 

theme, most texts are complex in thought and we are obliged 
to resort to them. Most of our doctrinal texts even are used 
inferentially. The truth does not come to us in explicit doc- 
trinal propositions. Revelation reaches us indirectly. A 
categorical text is doubtless a valuable possession. John 3 \J 
would be preferable to all other texts in discussing the need 
of the new birth. These texts are valuable because they are 
weighty and emphatic and have a certain tone of authority 
as conditioned by their categorical character. They have 
the weight of propositions. Moreover, in the use of them, 
there is no possibility of subordinating what is primary to 
what is secondary. Such subordination is often necessary in 
the choice of texts that contain several themes, e. g., Matt. 
18:3, "Except ye be converted and become as little children," 
etc. The necessity of conversion is often deduced from this 
text. But this is only an incidental thought and it subordi- 
nates what is primary to what is secondary. The child-like 
disposition as condition of entering the Kingdom of Heaven 
is the primary thought. Another and subordinate thought is 
childlikeness as the mark of a converted man. The necessity 
of conversion is a still more subordinate thought. These 
explicit texts, although limiting the range of themes, do not 
limit the range of discussion, nor do they necessarily result in 
stereotyped treatment. They may be treated in a variety of 
ways ; some of them textually, as Robertson would do it, 
more frequently topically as Bushnell would do it. They 
may be treated ethically, evangelistically and especially doc- 
trinally, and always didactically, whether doctrinally or not. 
It is possible that the decline of doctrinal preaching may 
in part account for the relative non-use of this class of texts 
in our day. Most preachers incline to the use of texts in a 
rhetorically suggestive way, as illustrated, e. g., by a sermon 
of Bishop Huntington's on the "Economy of Renewal," 
Micah 2:10, "Arise ye and depart; for this is not your rest." 



126 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

The sermon reminds us of Bushnell's "Spiritual Dislodg- 
ments." It is a figurative or an accommodative use of the 
text that secures the theme. Judah's threatened displace- 
ment from their native seats as a resting place suggests fig- 
uratively the dislodgments needed in the renewal of character. 
There may be a certain gain, and there often is in deducing 
themes for didactic discussion in this indirect way. It may 
result in a more interesting, animating, and persuasive type 
of didactic preaching. A rhetorically suggestive text pre- 
supposes a rhetorically suggestive method of handling it. 
But it is also possible that one may be trapped into straining 
his text, and the rhetorical manner of treatment may not 
seem harmonious with the strictly didactic object of the ser- 
mon. Harmony of tone may be violated. In general a defi- 
nitely didactic discussion demands a definitely didactic text, 
if it may be had. At any rate the thing to avoid in the rhe- 
torical or semi-poetic use of a text is a fancifulness that is 
inharmonious with the sobriety of a didactic discussion. 

2. The indirect or implicit correspondence. Here the 
text yields the theme by some process of indirection, some 
process of deduction, or inference or oblique mental sugges- 
tion. It would be very difficult to classify such processes, 
for they are as numerous as the categories or classifications 
of thought and the methods of mental association. Many 
of these processes of deduction are based on the principle of 
local contiguity or on the logical relations of thought, i. e., the 
interior and necessary relations of thought. But most of 
them are based on the principle of likeness, or consan- 
guinity of thought or the family resemblances of thought. 
These principles yield vast varieties of method. Let us ex- 
amine and illustrate a few of these possible indirect methods. 

(i) There is the process of logical inference. The corre- 
spondence between the text and theme is the correspondence 
between cause and effect, or effect and cause, or it may be 



HOMILETIC CORRESPONDENCES 127 

some form of contiguity of thought, like antecedent and con- 
sequent or the reverse, e. g., Bishop Brooks' sermon, Acts 
8 :8, "And there was great joy in that city." Theme : "The 
Christian City." The declaration of the text is simply that it 
was a joyful city. Civic joy, or some such theme as that, 
would be the generalized thought, if it were to attach itself 
directly to the text. That it is a Christian city is an infer- 
ence. It is a legitimate inference for the context shows that 
the joy spoken of is Christian joy, joy namely which is evi- 
dence of the presence of Christianity there, or joy of which 
Christianity is the source or which was occasioned by its 
introduction there. But besides this inferential process there 
is the process of generalization. From the particular city of 
the text, the preacher passes to the Christian city in general. 
The relation of Christianity to this particular city is wholly 
abandoned and some of the characteristics of the true Chris- 
tian city in general are discussed, viz., Faith, Righteousness, 
Charity. This sort of text is incorrectly sometimes called the 
"motto text." But the relations of thought here are less ex- 
ternal than in the motto text. The text furnishes something 
more than a title to the sermon. Such inferential processes 
are very varied. They have the whole field of cause and 
effect, and of antecedence and consequence in which to range. 
Texts thus used yield substantial and at the same time sug- 
gestive preaching. They yield large and legitimate truths 
that stand in the light of larger truths with which they are 
logically allied. They yield themselves readily to a great 
variety of themes. In connection with the above-cited text 
for example we readily think of the principles that lie at the 
foundation of a Christian civic life, of the consequences that 
follow the introduction of religion into civic life, of the end 
or object of Christianity as related to the elevation of civic 
life. These themes and many others may be deduced, and so 
limit the discussion. The inferential process is so easy and 



128 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

natural, preachers so readily form the habit of deducing 
themes in this way, that it is hardly realized that it is being 
done at all. But it is well for the preacher at the very outset 
to form the habit of tracing his processes. 

(2) There are the processes that are based upon the prin- 
ciples of likeness. The methods of analogy are the most 
fruitful methods of correspondence, and their use has great 
range, (a) The process of generalization, t. c, the process 
by which the specific truth contained in or suggested by the 
text is broadened out and put in its most general form in 
the theme, is based on the principle of analogy. Classifica- 
tion of special objects of thought presupposes likeness. The 
objects belong to the same family. The process of generali- 
zation also involves a process of logical deduction, since we 
pass from one object or class of objects to another along the 
line of logically-related thought; e.g., 1 Tim. 4:16, "Take 
heed to thyself and to thy teaching, continue in these things," 
etc. The words are addressed to a particular person, who 
had special functions in the service of the early church. The 
injunction may be transferred to the present day and enlarged 
and made applicable to all classes of persons in any kind of 
official or unofficial service, pastors, evangelists, Bible teach- 
ers. The text yields itself readily to textual treatment. 
Theme: Conditions of successful Christian service. (1) Per- 
sonal watchfulness. (2) Unflagging devotion. (3) Inspira- 
tion of the future reward. 

(b) The process of particularization. The general truth 
of the text is applied to a particular case, or a particular phase 
of the general truth is selected for the theme, or the truth 
applied specifically in the text may be transferred in the 
theme to another and a different but analogous, specific 
object, e. g., Rom. 14 .7, 8, "For none of us liveth to himself," 
etc. The text is generic. It proclaims a general truth. 
Living to Christ is the general thought. In the context Paul 



HOMILETIC CORRESPONDENCES 129 

applies the principle to the question of unselfish abridgment 
of Christian liberty. But it may be applied in almost any 
direction. It readily adjusts itself to any phase of the Chris- 
tian life, to any hardship, trial, sorrow, loss, joy, success. 
Whatever it be, the Christian significance of it all is that in 
it we are to live to Christ. Whether for better or for worse, 
we are the Lord's. Here too it is to be noted that the spe- 
cific application of what is general presupposes a basis of 
likeness, or analogy, (c) Parity of principle. Here we have 
the use of analogy for the purpose of teaching, and yet it 
may be so used as to be very attractive and impressive teach- 
ing. Dr. Bushnell's use may illustrate, e.g., John 10:3, "He 
calleth his own sheep by name." Theme : "Personal love and 
lead of Christ." A textual sermon. The analogy is sug- 
gested by the text, and has didactic value. Luke 9:13, 
"Give ye them to eat." Theme: "Duty not measured by 
ability." The obligation of the disciples to obey Christ 
despite their lack of food suggests by analogy, or by parity 
of principle, that our obligation in general is not measured 
by our personal ability at any particular time. Note that it 
is parity of principle that makes this generalization possible. 
John 20 :8, "Then went in also that other disciple." Theme : 
"Unconscious influence." The lead and consequent influence 
of Peter upon John in entering the tomb of the Lord on that 
particular occasion is analogous to the influence which men 
in general exert upon one another, analogous, i. e., in its 
aspect of unconsciousness. The solidity and attractiveness 
of Dr. Bushnell's preaching are in entire harmony with this 
use of texts. Texts analogically used may also be connected 
with the theme by way of contrast, and with striking effect, 
e.g., Jer. 48:11, "Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and 
he hath settled on his lees and hath not been emptied from 
vessel to vessel," etc. Theme: "Spiritual dislodgments." The 
untroubled life of Moab, at ease from his vouth, like wine 



130 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

settled on the lees, suggests by contrast the troubled life of 
Israel. This troubled life with its results is analogous to the 
Christian life in general with its results in spiritual dislodg- 
ment. Note the three processes. Contrast; Moab's ease 
versus Israel's discomfort. Analogy; Israel's dislodgments 
and their results correspondent to the Christian's dislodg- 
ments and their results. Generalisation; the case of a single 
people correspondent to that of all Christian people. This 
use of contrast is homiletically justifiable, but it exacts skill. 
Hebrew 11:8, 9, "By faith Abraham, when he was called, 
obeyed to go out," etc. Theme: "The Illusiveness of Life." 
Abraham went forth in response to a promise that proved 
to be illusive. So analogically men in general go out into 
life. Life promises, or seems to promise what it does not 
fulfill. Hence the general principle, the illusiveness of life. 
This is a characteristic of Robertson's preaching. It deals 
with general principles, and the principle discussed is com- 
monly a generalization deduced analogically from the text. 
Texts thus used are among the most fruitfully suggestive and 
useful texts. 

(d) Figurative adaptation is another use of analogy. 
There is a difference between that sort of analogy, which, by 
sometimes stretching the meaning of the term possibly, may 
be called parity of principle, and which may be used didac- 
tically or for purposes of direct teaching, and that form of it 
which is a figurative or metaphorical likeness, which appeals 
chiefly to the imagination and is used for the purpose of 
suggestive illustration. It is often difficult to state or even 
to see the difference. It is sometimes felt rather than seen. 
It is a difference in degree rather than in kind. In general 
it may be called the difference between a prosaic and a semi- 
poetic use, although it must be acknowledged that many 
preachers who teach from a parity of principle which they 
find in the analogy of their texts use them in a semi-poetic 



HOMILETIC CORRESPONDENCES 131 

way, e. g., BushneH's sermon on "Unconscious Influence," 
and Robertson's "On the Illusiveness of Life." This use of 
analogy for the purpose of teaching requires much sobriety 
of judgment lest it degenerate into frivolous figurative re- 
semblances. Analogy used rhetorically and in a semi-poetic 
way for the chief purpose of illustration, suggestion and 
impression, may have very wide range. Take e. g., Matt. 
8 : 27, "And the men marvelled saying what manner of man is 
this," etc. Theme: "The surprises of a complete conscious 
Redemption." There may be no close inner connection of 
thought, or of principle between the surprise of the disciples 
at their rescue from the storm on Galilee Lake, and the 
assumed or imagined surprise of a redeemed man awakening 
to the full consciousness of his redemption either in the pres- 
ent or the future life. But the one may be made suggestive 
of the other, not on a basis of parity of principle, but by a 
certain figurative likeness. It is a metaphorical adaptation, 
in which the likeness is somewhat remote, but it is a true like- 
ness and speaks to the imagination, if not to mental judgments. 
A thing may be true to the feelings, sentiments and imagina- 
tion, and not true to the critical judgment. Again, John 19: 41, 
"And in the garden a new tomb wherein was never man yet 
laid." This passage has served a somewhat varied poetic use 
in the Christian pulpit. The same generic thought variously 
modified has been deduced from it. The general thought is 
that there are dark spots in the brightest scenes of life, sorrow- 
ful experiences in the midst of its pleasures and beneficences. 
The Grave in the Garden of Life. In some such way, Henry 
Ward Beecher has used the passage. So, also, the Rev. Dr. 
George L. Walker. Each uses it in his own distinctive way, 
with much fertility of invention, felicity of illustration, beauty 
of diction and persuasiveness of impression. Christ's walking 
on the Galilee Lake has been frequently used as figuratively 
suggestive of his spiritual presence in the tempests of life. It 



132 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

was thus used by Tholuck. Whether an analogy amounts to 
parity of principle or is merely figurative adaptation depends 
somewhat on the way in which it is used. It may be made to 
suggest likeness of principle, or it may be used as an appeal 
to the imagination, but we generally recognize the difference 
between an expository or argumentative use of analogy, one 
which is for the purpose of instruction or to convince, and one 
that has a mere rhetorical or illustrative value and that aims 
chiefly to vivify and enrich thought and make it more im- 
pressive. The figurative or metaphorical use is endangered 
of fancifulness. It may result in a lack of virility and of 
mental and possibly of moral sobriety in preaching. It is likely 
to affect artificial resemblances and to degenerate into allegory. 
It demands sobriety of judgment, but properly used, as the 
preaching of Bishop Phillips Brooks demonstrates, it greatly 
enriches the work of the pulpit. This leads us to consider 
another and an extreme form of analogy. 

(e) Allegorical adaptation. The extremest form of fig- 
urative adaptation. It is not easy sometimes to detect the dif- 
ference between them. Metaphorical and allegorical likenesses 
are both forms of analogy. Paul in his allegorizing of the 
story of Isaac and Ishmael assumes a certain correspondence 
between the relations of the two children and the relations of 
the two covenants, a correspondence to him so striking that 
he claims the right, a poetic right, doubtless, to make the one 
the analogue of the other. Luther translates Paul's words, 
Gal. 4 : 24, "Which things are an allegory/' "Die Worte 
bedeuten etwas," i. e., the words have an inner significance 
beyond the external significance of the historic personages and 
facts. This significance is doubtless an invention of the He- 
brew imagination, for who but a Hebrew would have imagined 
it ? It is a strained analogy, and that is allegory. But after all 
there is an element of likeness here. What differentiates the 
allegorical use of analogy from other forms of analogy is that 



HOMILETIC CORRESPONDENCES 133 

it does not deal with the prominent features of the likeness 
suggested and those that come easily and naturally from it, but 
are rather fancifully created by the imagination. To illustrate : 
The Exodus in its main features may be properly used as typ- 
ically analogous to spiritual redemption. Entrance into the 
promised land legitimately suggests entrance into the heavenly 
rest, but when these historic experiences are minutely individ- 
ualized and made typically analogous to assumed corresponding 
spiritual experiences in detail, then the process of allegorizing 
begins. Paul, therefore, allegorizes in making that smitten 
rock the type of Christ. The suffering servant of Jehovah in 
Is. 53 may legitimately suggest the suffering Messianic King. 
It is a genuine analogy. But when Matthew finds minute in- 
dividual experiences recorded in the Old Testament fulfilled 
in assumed corresponding minute individual experiences in 
the life of Christ, he allegorizes. The parables have been 
allegorized in this minute way. But it is a principle of modern 
exegesis, which homiletics should appropriate, that the value 
of the analogy of the parable for purposes of teaching is lim- 
ited to its main thought and does not extend to its subordinate 
thoughts. Any metaphor is useful only for the main thought 
of the resemblance suggested. When the elements of resem- 
blance are atomized and traced out in detail, the metaphor is 
allegorized. Allegorical likeness is of but little value to the 
preacher. What the preacher wants is the inner and generic, 
not the outer and specific points of likeness. But after all 
allegory may legitimately be used in preaching, if done with 
sobriety and with definite recognition of its rhetorical use. In 
this case it does not differ from any figurative or poetic use of 
analogy. It is only a difference in degree. Bishop Brooks in 
his sermons on "The Cherubim" and on "The Sea of Glass" 
allegorizes his texts. If in Gal. 4:24 or 1 Cor. 10:4 Paul 
undertakes an exegesis, he is doubtless in error. But if he 
speaks as a homilist, if he uses these instances as rhetorical 



134 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

adaptations, uses them illustratively, it is a perfectly legitimate 
use and does not differ from any rhetorical use of analogy. 
Exegetically Philo, of course, went wild in interpreting Old 
Testament characters as simply types of ethical qualities, e. g., 
Abel of devotion, Noah of righteousness, Abraham of holiness 
won by striving, Isaac of natural piety, and in attaching no im- 
portance to their reality as historic characters. But homileti- 
cally what better use could be made of them ? Only, of course, 
if thus used in biographical discourses, the use should be rec- 
ognized as rhetorical adaptation. 

In fact at a time when critical exegesis exacts so closely 
upon homiletic freedom, preaching may lose something of its 
rhetorical suggestiveness. Within the limits of mental and 
moral sobriety, we may allegorize in the pulpit. We may get 
a great deal more out of the Bible, as we may out of Shakes- 
peare's works or any work of poetic productiveness, than ever 
went into it. If preaching were to anchor rigidly to modern 
exegesis it would lose much of its quickening power. 

There is a species of correspondence that lies beyond the 
realm of allegory, but which allegorizing preachers have often 
used, viz., verbal correspondence. It is a mere verbal sug- 
gestion without any remotest correspondence of thought. Such 
use has generally marked a degeneracy of the pulpit. Preachers 
of the Roman Catholic Church have sometimes used their 
texts as puns. Claude seems to have had preachers of this 
sort in mind when he writes,* "The preacher must be wise, 
sober, and chaste. I say wise in opposition to those im- 
pertinent people, who utter jests, comical comparisons, quirks 
and extravagances, and such are a good part of the preachers 
of the church of Rome." Not only a frivolous but a lascivious 
use of Scripture texts was possible. The Puritan preachers 
of England were not above this frivolity. Mr. Spurgeon never 



♦Composition of a Sermon. Chap. II, page 62. 



HOMILETIC CORRESPONDENCES 135 

used his text as a pun, but in his early years he used the Latin 
word for Jesus in the light of a pun, and made it mean "I ease 
you." Roland Hill sometimes allowed his wit to get the better 
of him in his use of Scripture. Dean Swift's moral shallow- 
ness and insobriety are apparent in that case which has become 
classic for frivolous pulpit procedure, in which he addressed a 
congregation of tailors from the text "A remnant shall be 
saved." It would be impossible in our day for any educated 
preacher to do this, despite the freedom with which we use the 
Scriptures. 

II. Correspondence of Tone. By this is meant harmony of 
feeling, sentiment, spirit, taste, literary quality, between text 
and sermon. Correspondence of thought is possible without 
this correspondence of sentiment. The character and object 
of the sermon exact upon the tone of the text that is chosen, 
and reversely, the tone of the text conditions the tone of the 
sermon. Lack of harmony here must result in an impression 
of ineptitude, which no amount of rhetorical skill would be 
able to overcome. Harmony of tone in the art of preaching 
is no less important than in the art of music. The ground- 
tone of the text demands an echo in the ground-tone of the 
sermon, and reversely. There are two sorts of tone corre- 
spondence between the text and the sermon which should be 
considered, the literary or rhetorical and the ethical. 

1. It is a generally-accepted rule that a didactic aim and a 
prosaic quality in the material of a sermon demand a literary 
or rhetorical quality in the text that corresponds. The method 
of handling the sermon may modify the rule. For a rhetorically 
suggestive method of accomplishing the didactic result may 
admit of the choice of a rhetorically suggestive text. Such a 
text should certainly be treated in a way corresponding to its 
quality. He, however, should be a skillful rhetorician who 
would attempt it. But a prosaic discussion, a discussion that 
aims primarily at convincing the understanding certainly calls 



136 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

for a corresponding text. If the object of the sermon be 
ethical, an ethical quality in the text that corresponds is needed. 
An emotional text commits the preacher to the effort to excite 
an emotion corresponding in the congregation. A poetical text 
presupposes an appeal to the imagination in the use of a type 
of diction that is harmonious. The writer once heard a ser- 
mon from Is. 63: i, "Who is this that cometh from Edom," 
etc. It was a somewhat dull and distinctly prosaic and com- 
monplace discussion of sin. The preacher had not caught the 
tone of his text. Contrast in this regard the use of the text 
by Bishop Brooks in the sermon entitled, "The Conqueror 
from Edom." The inspiration of the text is apparent in the 
elevated tone of the entire sermon. The dullest hearer would 
not fail to note the harmony of tone. No preacher who knew 
his task, or even a man of ordinary sentiment and sensibility, 
would select Matt. 1 1 128, 29, "Come unto me all ye that labor," 
etc., as the basis of a prosaic discussion of salvation as in- 
volved in subjection to Christ's yoke, although the substance 
of that thought may be found in the text. John 17:20, 21, 
"Neither for these only do I pray," etc., is a very difficult text 
for a sermon on the unity of the Christian church, as the 
writer has found by testing it. It is not easy to preserve the 
tone of the utterance. It is a part of our Lord's high-priestly 
prayer. The sermon should never forget this, or at least 
should never dishonor its sanctity of tone. In choosing an 
elevated text, one highly emotional or poetic or rhetorically 
suggestive in its character, one should never flat out into com- 
monplace. It is better to enrich a prosaic text than to impov- 
erish a poetic text in one's handling of it. Emotional texts or 
texts of sentiment that have become identified with cherished 
Christian experiences are specially exacting upon harmony of 
tone. Texts, for example, that relate to the sufferings of 
Christ, or the joys of the heavenly world. The problem of se- 
curing harmony of tone is not merely an aesthetic problem, 



HOMILETIC CORRESPONDENCES 137 

but is as well the ethical problem of conserving the exception- 
ally elevated and impressive character and influence of such 
texts. German preachers, who, in general, speak more largely 
to the feelings, affections and sentiments, than American or 
English preachers, recognize this principle of harmony ex- 
ceptionally well. They choose their texts with excellent judg- 
ment and taste, and treat them with propriety after they have 
chosen them. This principle of harmony of tone has, as Prof. 
Phelps has pointed out, served to fix for us a class of texts 
that appeal to our highest emotions and sentiments and are 
used largely in evangelistic preaching. It is tone as well as 
thought that has secured for us these texts that speak so per- 
suasively to the heart and will. Evangelistic preachers of the 
higher class have always selected their texts with reference 
to their fitness to further the aim of evangelistic impression. 
Theological changes and particularly changes in pulpit use of 
the Bible, have brought out a new crop of evangelistic texts. 
But the old texts will still demonstrate their power and will 
still be available for varied use. 

Timeliness is involved in part in this question of corre- 
spondence of tone. The object of the sermon, as conditioned 
by the occasion, exacts upon the time-note of the text. The 
occasional preacher is obliged to exercise skill in his choice of 
timely texts. The old English preachers, Tillotson, Taylor and 
South, and the New England Puritan preachers exhibited this 
skill in the choice of texts for their occasional sermons. 

2. Ethical correspondence. We touch here more specifi- 
cally the ethics of homiletic propriety. The use of the text is a 
moral question, as well as one of good taste. The text should 
be ethically worthy of the preacher's calling, of the object of 
his preaching, of the occasion, of the audience and of the 
sanctities of public worship. Texts in themselves unobjection- 
able are often made objectionable by their use. The following 
classes of texts are morally improper. They are such as 



138 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

Claude reprehends in the preaching of the Roman Catholic 
church of his day, and against whose use he warns the Protes- 
tant churches of France. 

Odd texts are morally objectionable. A text in itself simple 
and clear may be made fantastic by twisting it from its historic 
sense and use. A manly man, with a manly object, will have 
a manly text, and such a man will have a manly sermon. It 
was in part the homiletic sin of the old allegorizers that they 
twisted their texts till they become fantastic. It reached its 
lowest point of degradation in the preaching of the Roman 
Catholic church prior to the Reformation and had not van- 
ished in the post-Reformation period. But this sort of thing 
has almost wholly disappeared from the Christian pulpit. Oc- 
casionally a pulpit mountebank indulges in it, but it is gen- 
erally regarded as vulgar. It marks a great advance in the 
ethical as well as aesthetic tone of the pulpit that this is no 
longer possible. A better conception of the Bible secures a 
more serious estimate of it as a text book. Wit and humor 
are by no means inappropriate in the pulpit. Many great 
preachers have made use of them. But there is a great differ- 
ence between flashes of wit such as Luther sometimes indulged 
in, and which were not uncommon and sometimes seriously 
objectionable in the preaching of Henry Ward Beecher, and a 
deliberate, sensational attempt to commit a whole sermon to 
frivolity by the use of a fantastic text, or by the fantastic use 
of an honest text. An intelligent estimate of the Bible tends 
to correct and regulate the moral judgments in the use of wit 
and humor in the pulpit. 

Censorious texts are ethically objectionable. The classical 
illustration and admonitory example is that of the man, who, 
on leaving his church, flung as a Parthian arrow Ps. 120:5, 
"Woe is me that I sojourn in Meshech, that I dwell among 
the tents of Kedar/' Such a man is guilty of a grave moral 
offense. Nothing can justify a Christian minister in the in- 



HOMILETIC CORRESPONDENCES 139 

diligence of petty spite. It is doubly offensive to draught the 
Scriptures into alliance with it. There are no Scriptures avail- 
able for such use, except the imprecations of the Old Testa- 
ment, and such use of them would be an anachronism and a 
violation of the first principles of Christian morality. 

Puzzling texts are also morally objectionable. They are 
generally the special property of preachers who affect subjects 
of merely speculative interest and that are morally unfruitful, 
or of those who affect rhetorical sensation. The allegorizing 
habit has allied itself with the use of this class of texts. It. 
has always marked a degeneracy in the moral and spiritual, 
and I may add, the aesthetic tone of preaching. The preacher 
who in our day would affect the puzzling process in his use of 
texts would be regarded as a homiletic crank. 



CHAPTER VI 

CONSIDERATIONS REGULATIVE FOR THE CHOICE 
OF SUBJECTS 

Most preachers select their own texts and themes. In 
Churches that follow the course of the Christian year, the gen- 
eral subjects to be presented have been prescribed by the 
ecclesiastical authorities. They are fixed by the different 
periods into which the church year is divided, and the preacher 
is limited by them. There are conceivable disadvantages in 
this. It seems to be a severe tax upon the preacher's ingenuity 
and suggests a premium upon repetition and commonplace. For 
the indolent and unproductive preacher it seems to promise a 
safe retreat, while it also seems to pledge superficiality and un- 
fruitfulness. But in general it is a seeming rather than a real 
difficulty. It may be that the preaching of churches thus lim- 
ited lacks somewhat the spontaneity, the independence, and 
fruitfulness of the preaching of those churches that are free 
of such limitations. But observation indicates that there is no 
real restriction here for the better class of preachers. And the 
necessity of keeping before the mind of the people the great 
facts and truths of historic Christianity is a distinct gain. The 
gain is the greater that only subjects and not specific themes 
and texts are thus prescribed. But in the larger number of 
Protestant churches neither subjects nor texts are prescribed. 
The preacher in such churches needs, therefore, an intelligent 
basis of selection. He needs to take into account the complex 
demands of his vocation. There seems to be no good reason 
why the individual sermon should be wholly isolated from sub- 
jects chosen for presentation during a considerable period of 



THE CHOICE OF SUBJECTS 141 

time. Isolation is, of course, necessary to a certain extent. The 
preacher must adjust himself to the broken, fragmentary lives 
of his people, whose needs he is called to meet. But in general 
individual selection may well be conditioned by one's larger 
plans for the work of the pulpit. A habit of storing themes 
and texts is necessary for any successful preacher. Out of 
such a treasury one may readily make out a list of subjects, 
and of texts, at least in a provisional way, for a considerable 
period of time, six months perhaps, three months at least. To 
such subjects, especially in the earlier period of one's ministry, 
it may be possible fairly well to adhere. Intelligent hearers 
often criticize the lack of unity of impression in the work of 
the pulpit, the lack of continuity in the subjects chosen and the 
failure of an intelligent basis of selection so often apparent in 
the preacher's work. The question, "What shall I preach?" 
should never be left to the answer of caprice, or of transient 
impulse. There are rational considerations regulative for 
choice. What demands then should be taken into account in 
answering this question in a broad and intelligent manner? 
The following are among the claims to be met in the work of 
selection. 

I. The needs of the congregation always have the first claim 
upon the preacher. Timeliness in preaching is necessary to gen- 
eral effectiveness, especially necessary to edification. A word 
spoken in season has a double power. To its own intrinsic 
weight is added the weight that comes from the occasion or 
from the condition of the congregation or even a portion of it. 
Such timeliness presupposes a reference to the real needs of 
the congregation. The man who has an intelligent and definite 
purpose to meet these wants in his preaching will not fail to 
be timely. What interests the congregation is not an unimpor- 
tant consideration, for their wishes are often an index of their 
needs. The desirable and the profitable may be united, and al- 
ways will be united when it is evident that what people desire 



142 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

expresses a real want and will therefore become tributary to 
real profit. It is true that people are not always interested in 
what is best for them. And a responsible preacher will never 
permit a congregation to settle for him unconditionally the 
question of their real and permanent needs. The preacher's 
estimate of what is profitable should, therefore, have preced- 
ence. Experience and observation will settle the balance be- 
tween what interests and what profits. No general rule will 
settle it. It may be questioned, however, whether preachers 
in general sufficiently consider what people want to hear, or 
what they really wish, although they may not be more than 
half conscious of it. The habit of soliciting suggestions from 
the congregation is a good one. Very urgent wants have 
often been recognized and met in this way. Many a preacher 
has to acknowledge that he is indebted to his parishioners for 
some of his best texts and most important subjects and 
they may often thank themselves for some of his best 
sermons. 

But, of course, what clearly profits independently of all ca- 
pricious desire, is, as already suggested, the main consideration. 
The chief reason for interesting people is that their real needs 
may be the more effectively met, the needs even of a limited 
section of the congregation, sometimes perhaps even of a single 
person. This is pastoral preaching. The Pastoral Epistles lay 
accent upon what "profits the hearer." "Striving about words 
to no profit" is sharply rebuked. The things to be constantly 
affirmed are "the things that are good and profitable." It is a 
very easy thing for a man to become a pulpit crank by selfish 
devotion to a hobby and a lack of sympathy with the congre- 
gation and of devotion to their moral welfare. The building of 
religious character and the bettering of the religious life is the 
inclusive interest. But many things are involved in this. It 
must start in the valley of decision where men choose Christ 
as the master of life. Ordinary preaching should enter this field. 



THE CHOICE OF SUBJECTS 143 

But there are times when concentration is demanded. One will 
need to summon into use the arousing, converting, saving truths 
of Christianity. There are such truths and the preacher must 
find out what they are. But a large part of the preaching that 
profits will have for its aim the growth and enlargement of the 
Christian life. Such preaching will deal with those truths of 
grace that produce growth in Christian character. It is the 
effective presentation of Christ as the source and the pattern of 
life that develops Christian character. 

But Christ is also the inspiration and the aim of life. To 
incite men, therefore, to the choice of the highest ideals of 
life, to quicken them into Christian activity, to urge them to the 
cultivation of those productive virtues of the Christian life on 
which the advancement of the Kingdom of God depends, this 
also is involved. 

There will be times also when the congregation as a whole or 
in part will need the cheer and comfort of the Gospel of 
alleviation. The burdened and the careworn are the larger 
number. And the preacher who would profit must know his 
Scriptures as a storehouse of comforting truths and facts. No 
opportunity to say the word of cheer should ever be lost. He 
who applies sympathetically and skillfully the cheering and 
comforting truths of the Gospel to those who are oppressed by 
the burdens of life will win an ascendency which were other- 
wise impossible. If done in manly fashion, a minister will not 
fail to make himself necessary to his people. His life will be- 
come identified with their lives and he never can become an 
object of indifference to them. But the end of comfort is en- 
richment of character. The end of parenetic truth is that it 
should become edifying truth. Place should always be left in 
one's selection of subjects for the providences of the people's 
lives. Here then are four classes of need, decision, edification, 
inspiration, comfort, and there are four types of truth corre- 
spondingly available for the preacher; evangelistic, didactic, 



144 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

ethical, parenetic. They overlap. It were well, if all were to 
appear in ordinary preaching. But there will be times when 
each will need to receive special emphasis. 

II. Corresponding to the needs of the congregation, are the 
claims of Christian truth. For what meets the needs of the 
people should meet the claims of truth. But it is an object that 
demands specific consideration. Christianity should be inter- 
preted to men with an approximation to completeness. A state- 
ment of the contents of Christianity and of their demands upon 
Christian preaching would readily furnish suggestions as to the 
scope of the preacher's presentation. 

Themes that cover the chief historic facts of Christianity 
have the first place. The facts are back of the truths. The 
truths cannot be worthily apprehended apart from the facts. 
Here is the value to the preacher of the Christian year. It 
brings these facts to his attention and summons him to make 
use of them. The life of the Church is dependent upon them. 
Advent season, Passion week, Easter, Whitsuntide, All Saints' 
Day, should never fail of recognition in any Christian com- 
munion or in any Christian pulpit. 

Themes inclusive of the most important doctrines of Chris- 
tianity, especially the doctrines of grace, will also find place in 
the pulpit whose aim is the highest profit of the hearer. There 
are the great central groups within which the doctrines of grace 
are found. They are but few, and may be grouped as Bib- 
liology, Theology, Anthropology, Christology, Soteriology, 
Pneumatology, Ecclesiology and Eschatology. Within these 
limits lies the entire content of the Gospel message. Of 
special importance is the recognition of vital truths or facts 
that have been neglected or obscured because they have been 
underestimated and undervalued, either generally in the 
churches or in the church or community where providence has 
placed one. One might still further add, as an important con- 
sideration, the selection of themes whose material will be 



THE CHOICE OF SUBJECTS 145 

adapted to different types of sermons, e.g., expository, textual, 
topical, historical, biographical, doctrinal, ethical, evangelistic, 
prophetic, parenetic. These suggestions, of course, only indicate 
the general scope of our enquiry. They certainly cannot be 
crowded into the limits of the work of a single year. They are 
considerations that are properly regulative of one's entire 
ministry. 

III. But the needs of the preacher himself are not an insig- 
nificant consideration. For the personal factor conditions ef- 
fectiveness. It is assumed, of course, that there will be no 
caprice or self-indulgence in selecting themes. Only with this 
proviso is it worth while to consider it. But the working re- 
lation of the truth to one's own personality is of vast impor- 
tance in the whole work of preaching. 

Personal interest perhaps comes first. Every thoughtful, 
studious preacher will have his favorite themes. He will be 
more thoroughly interested in them than in others equally im- 
portant, perhaps, or possibly even more ^important. That one 
can handle most effectively what interests him most is a good 
reason why one should prefer and should choose such themes 
rather than those even that might be regarded by many as more 
important. One is strongly moved by that only which inter- 
ests him strongly, and one moves others only as one is himself 
moved. It is true that proportion and perspective may be 
easily disregarded. One may make a hobby of his subjects, 
and wrong his congregation by withholding subjects of more 
vital importance. But for the preacher whose homiletic 
interests are Christian, this basis of choice is legitimate as it 
is important. 

Personal aptitudes are another consideration. One may well 
discuss what he is best fitted to discuss. One's intellectual, 
emotional, ethical, aesthetic tendencies and habits and training 
condition one's choice of themes. One man naturally affects 
didactic themes, because the teaching gift is strong in him, an- 



146 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

other ethical themes and aims, another is at home in the sphere 
of emotion and sentiment. An extreme of one's speciality is, of 
course, objectionable, but one is strongest in his own realm, 
and in the long run one's own speciality is pretty sure to domi- 
nate one. What one naturally affects will surely influence one's 
choice. 

Personal familiarity is another consideration. A subject well 
mastered will be the more effectively handled. Every intelli- 
gent preacher may be assumed to have such themes in hand, 
themes of living, timely interest, Biblical, theological, ethical, 
social, whatever they may be. With such he is at home. The 
importance of investigating those subjects that are of primary 
importance is evident here. Those of secondary importance, 
in which people are but little interested and which are of but 
little practical value, should certainly be avoided. A preacher 
cannot afford to spend time in storing useless knowledge. One 
who does this will be an unfruitful preacher and will win the 
reputation perhaps of a pulpit crank. Things that do not profit 
should have the "go by." From the very outset of one's min- 
istry themes of primal importance to the Christian life should 
be chosen for investigation. He is the best preacher whose 
personal tastes and aptitudes harmonize with the interests of 
the congregation and with the claims of Christian truth. One 
is always safe in choosing the chief themes of Christianity and 
in making them centres about which one's thought and study 
may rally. 

Preaching regulated as to the choice of subjects by the above 
considerations will be secured against caprice. It will be intel- 
ligent, discriminating, proportionate preaching. The ground is 
covered. Experience and good judgment will fix the balance 
between different demands. How to meet these demands is now 
a practical question more easily answered. Having in hand the 
needs to be met, knowing one's people, and their necessities, 
knowing one's self, respecting the truth of which one is a 



THE CHOICE OF SUBJECTS 147 

steward, one will the more easily determine what to preach and 
in a reasonable, practical way. 

Thus will be secured, moreover, deliberation in the choice 
of the particular theme for the particular sermon. One is not 
shut up to one thing. Selection is possible from what seems 
most pertinent at the time. Present necessity or present in- 
clination will, indeed, sometimes dominate one. One must do 
simply what he can, or what he is inwardly self-impelled to do, 
irrespective of all other considerations. But the less of this the 
better. Here one has a broad and reliable basis for his work. 
Out of this the individual sermon will the more readily come 
and with intelligent deliberation. A preacher who works from 
a basis so broad will always have something to say. It is the 
"hand to mouth" preacher that will be left without anything to 
say. And such a preacher may find himself degenerating into 
the performance of those rhetorical antics that are the agonies 
of mental and moral poverty or into a commonplace stupidity 
equally impoverished of mental, ethical, spiritual or genuinely 
emotional quality. 

Freedom and fitness of invention too will result, i. e., in the 
discovery, choice and development of the thought-material of 
the individual sermon. Such production must always be con- 
ditioned by a good general conception of the scope of preaching 
and good plans for the realization of such conception. Surely 
the preacher who shapes the general plan of his preaching with 
reference to the right sort of results, will be pretty sure to keep 
this in mind in the process of the development of the individual 
sermon. For the question is not merely what does this text, 
theme, plan and development demand, but what do Christian 
interests demand, what the welfare of men, what is demanded 
by the truth, what of me as a Christian preacher, not only here 
and now, but all through and always. 



Ill 

SECTION THIRD 
TYPES OF HOMILETIC PRODUCT 



CHAPTER I 

THE EXPOSITORY TYPE 

Sermons may be classified in a variety of ways. A very 
comprehensive classification would give us the didactic and the 
practical types of sermon, or the argumentative and the per- 
suasive, or the pastoral and the occasional. But this is too 
general for purposes of close analysis. The method of develop- 
ment would be another basis for classification and this would 
give us the textual and topical types. But the method of de- 
velopment belongs properly to formal homiletics. The struc- 
ture of the sermon can not be discussed without considering the 
form it takes. The most external classification would be based 
upon the method of delivery and this would lead us into a 
discussion of the manuscript, extemporaneous and memoriter 
types of preaching. This basis we cannot ignore. Our dis- 
cussion will, therefore, include these three types. But the most 
complete and satisfactory classification will centre in the con- 
tent and object of the sermon. Following this method of 
classification, we first find the sermon whose content is Biblical 
material and whose object is exposition and practical applica- 
tion. We find secondly the sermon that contains the substance 
of some formulated doctrine and whose aim is the interpreta- 
tion or the defense and enforcement of some teaching of church 
theology. Thirdly, we have the sermon that relates to moral 
duties and virtues and whose object is moral inculcation in the 
interest of a practical realization of the claims of Christianity. 
And then fourthly we come to the sermon that concerns itself 
specifically with the claims and promises of the Gospel of re- 
demption, and whose object is to persuade men to their 



152 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

acceptance. Scriptural truth, dogmatic truth, ethical truth, 
evangelistic truth ; Biblical exposition, systematic indoctrina- 
tion, ethical inculcation, evangelistic conquest. Many sub-di- 
visions under each class are possible. Moreover any sermon, 
whatever its class, may include elements that belong to all 
these classes. The truth may be Biblically interpreted, argu- 
mentatively discussed, ethically enforced and evangelistically 
applied, all in the same sermon. Perhaps on the whole that 
is the best kind of sermon for ordinary pastoral use that com- 
bines in some measure elements that belong to all these types. 
It is however the prevailing quality of content and the leading 
object that determine the classification. According to the two 
methods of classification, then, we have before us seven types 
of homiletic product. We begin with the expository type. 

I. The Conception of Expository Preaching 
It is the interpretation, illustration and practical application, 
in appropriate order and form, of a portion of Scripture. As 
to its basis, the expository sermon rests upon a larger portion 
of Scripture as its text, than any other type of sermon. In this 
it differs from textual preaching. The older preachers and 
writers on homiletics are inclined to identify the textual and 
expository methods, treating single passages expositorily. 
Claude would call any method of drawing out the related 
thoughts of a single passage and expanding them, expository, 
and what we in our day would call a topical treatment, he 
would call expository. But properly the textual method in- 
terprets the content of but one or two passages, while the 
expository method deals with a larger amount of Scripture. 
In its content of development it is, of course, immediately 
Scriptural. It ranges less widely for its material all through 
than any other type of sermon. The body of thought comes 
directly from the Scriptures. Only what illustrates it comes 
from without. 



THE EXPOSITORY TYPE 153 

As to its method, it is primarily explanatory. It may be 
much else, but whatever the nature of the discussion and what- 
ever practical use may be made of the truth, it is all based 
immediately upon the exposition. As to its structure the ex- 
pository discourse has, or may have, a larger measure of free- 
dom than any other type of sermon. It is less controlled by 
logical and rhetorical considerations. The expository sermon 
proper has indeed the normal structural form, although even 
this has large freedom. But other forms are not at all answer- 
able to the demands of structural homiletics. 

We are thus led to consider some of its methods. Most of 
the methods possible fall somewhere within the four following 
classes. We have first the expository lecture. It may or may 
not have structural form. Like the Biblical homily, it may 
follow the order of thought in the text or like the sermon it 
may have a logical method of its own, rearranging the material 
structurally to suit that method. Its chief peculiarity is that 
it has a prevailingly didactic rather than practical interest. 
Chalmer's lectures on the Epistle to the Romans and Dale's lec- 
tures on the Epistle to the Ephesians may illustrate. These 
lectures are without sermon form and vary greatly in method 
of treatment. We have next the Biblical homily; a running 
popular commentary on and practical application of the text. 
In form it may correspond to the lecture, but in its character 
it is more popular and practical. Dr. Joseph Parker's preaching 
was largely of this sort. The modern Bible reading is much 
like the old Biblical homily. 

The expository biographical and historical discourse is an- 
other class. This may be handled in an almost unlimited variety 
of ways. The text need not be a continuous passage, and it 
may vary greatly in its length. Take the following illustrations. 
They are all concrete examples.* 



*See Classical Library. Expository sermons and outlines on the 
O. T. English. 



154 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

Here we have the discourse that takes a single verse as a 
heading and uses other portions of Scripture as material for 
expansion. The text is only a figurehead, e. g., Sermon 14, on 
David.* Text: 2 Samuel 12: 7, "Thou art the Man/' The text 
only hints at a single phase of David's character and life, with 
which somewhat comprehensively the discourse deals. All bears 
remotely upon the fall, but there is much that does not 
relate to it. The preacher has exercised his freedom to the 
utmost. 

Then there is the discourse that has an entire chapter as text, 
bringing in also, in a supplemental way, other Scriptures bear- 
ing upon the general subject in the process of discussion. The 
topics for discussion are suggested by the salient features of 
these Scriptures in their relation to the general subject, e. g.. 
Sermon 16. "Elijah's Flight," 1 Kings ig.~f Plan: (1) Circum- 
stances of the time in which Elijah lived. (2) Flight. (3) 
God's treatment of him, concluding with two inferential prac- 
tical suggestions. Here too we have an illustration of homiletic 
freedom. 

We have too the discourse that has no text at all. x\n ex- 
ample may be found in Dr. Joseph Parker's discourse on 
Judas Iscariot.J The material is gathered from all the pas- 
sages in the New Testament that refer to Judas. The first part 
is expository, the second practical. All these are illustrations 
of wide possibilities. And these possibilities are not limited 
to biographical and historical discourses, although they may 
have a wider range in these spheres. 

We have finally the expository sermon proper. It is like any 
topical sermon, with the difference that it gets all its material 
from the Scriptures. It has all the parts of a topical sermon, 
introduction, theme, divisions, orderly development and con- 



♦Archdeacon Farrar. 

fDr. Davidson. 

t'Things Concerning Himself," page 349. 



THE EXPOSITORY TYPE 155 

elusion, all bound together in topical unity. This is the method 
of Frederick W. Robertson, with the limitation that he failed 
to formulate his theme. It is a valuable method. It is not so 
distinctively didactic as the expository lecture, nor so distinc- 
tively practical as the homily, but has the same combination of 
the didactic and the practical that any textual or topical sermon 
has or should have. It is a method that may have very wide 
range. It may involve doctrinal preaching, for it is likely to hit 
upon the fundamental teachings of Christianity. It may in- 
volve ethical preaching, for Biblical material is largely ethical. 
Its material may be biographical or historical. Much exposi- 
tory preaching is necessarily of this sort. It may be evangelistic 
in its character, involving exhortation and appeal, for its con- 
tent may be the central message of the Gospel. It is used 
largely in the evangelistic preaching of our day. The possi- 
bilities of expository preaching as regards its range are a 
strong recommendation of it. It may combine many and 
varied elements of effective preaching. 

II. Homiletic Peculiarities of Expository Preaching 
All types of the topical sermon are treated in much the same 
way, but there are some distinctive features in the handling 
of the expository sermon that demand special attention. This 
may anticipate somewhat the discussion of formal homiletics, 
but only in a very limited measure. 

As regards the text, unity of content demands special em- 
phasis. The text is likely to be too large and cover too much 
ground. It is complex and varied in its content of thought. 
It is desirable, therefore, that it be reduced so that it may be 
made to contain but one complex leading thought or group of 
cognate or related thoughts capable of being gathered into one 
theme. If the text covers too much ground, the theme, if a 
theme be secured from it, will be too large, and the discussion, 
therefore, inadequate or interminable. If a single theme be 



156 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

not found to cover the content, the discourse may lack unity. 
It will be a homily, not a sermon. 

As regards the introduction, it is naturally briefer than that 
of the ordinary topical sermon. It enters less into explanation, 
for the whole sermon is explanatory. A long expository intro- 
duction to a sermon that is from beginning to end expository 
would be a gratuitous contribution. If the sermon is part of a 
series, the introduction will naturally aim to hold the continuity 
of exposition and will necessarily be brief, because it will only 
recapitulate the course of thought in the last discourse or 
possibly in the entire series up to this point. 

As to the theme the demand is that in size it be neither too 
large nor too small to fit the content of thought discussed. The 
theme is likely to be too large, for the reason that there is 
likely to be a large amount of text behind it. It is difficult to 
state the theme of such a sermon, because it covers so much 
ground. The more care, therefore, is needed in the statement. 
On the other hand in reducing the theme one is likely to throw 
out important material that should be included in the discus- 
sion. Exceptional care in securing and stating the theme will 
aid in grouping the content of the passage, which lies in con- 
fusion before the mind of the hearer, about its central thought. 
The whole sermon will then open out before the hearer with 
the greater definiteness, and mental confusion will be avoided. 

With respect to the topics or divisions of the sermon, care 
is needed in two directions ; first in analyzing, sifting and se- 
lecting material for discussion, so as to secure and group only 
the chief, salient points of the passage ; and secondly in fixing 
upon some simple, clear order in which these points or topics 
may be presented. Sometimes the passage itself will furnish 
the order that is desirable. It is likely, however, that the 
thoughts or topics will need rearranging. 

Touching the development or expansion of topics, the sug- 
gestive, rather than the exhaustive method is needed. The 



THE EXPOSITORY TYPE 157 

material is so abundant that it must be touched lightly, only 
the chief, germinal thoughts being seized upon. 

It is hardly necessary to suggest that the conclusion can 
afford to be brief, and may well attach itself, as often in the 
preaching of Robertson, to the last topic discussed. An elab- 
orate applicatory conclusion would be inappropriate in a dis- 
course which is largely applicatory from beginning to end. 

The expository sermon of the biographical and historical 
sort invites special attention. There are two possible methods 
of handling the material of such sermons. There is first the 
method of combining exposition and application in each division 
of the sermon. Here the application is attached directly to the 
exposition in the process of discussion. For such sermons this 
should seem to be the better way. One thus secures the greater 
clearness and definiteness of impression. One may thus take as 
text a single fragment that suggests what is most character- 
istic in the whole passage used, get a theme out of it and then 
discuss and apply the material as above suggested. To take 
a large passage would tax the memory in its effort to carry it 
along and keep connection. The second method separates the 
expository from the applicatory section, dealing first with ex- 
planation and then under a separate division deducing lessons 
or making practical application. This method seems better 
adapted to the doctrinal, than to the biographical or historical 
expository sermon. By discussing first the doctrinal material, 
one secures for it a clear, continuous and cumulative impres- 
sion. Then one is ready to make a practical application of it. 
The hearer does not care to have the preacher stop in his dis- 
cussion to moralize on his subject. He prefers a continuous, 
uninterrupted discussion. He is ready for the moral at the end. 
Not so, however, with the historical and biographical sermon. 
To be obliged to carry along the whole mass of biographical 
and historical material to the end of the exposition and then 
recall it all in the application would be too heavy a tax upon 



158 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

the memory of the hearer. It would seem better to give the 
exposition in installments in connection with the application. 

III. Qualifications for Effective Expository Preaching 

The same general qualifications are of course needed in all 

types of effective preaching. But expository preaching has some 

special exactions. The following suggestions may be made. 

1. Discriminating judgment is perhaps the primal requisite 
in successful expository preaching. This is taxed in the selec- 
tion and use of material. A sense of proportion, of propriety, 
of fitness, of adaptation, is needed in determining just what 
should be selected for use, and just what and how much re- 
jected. It is the germ thought, the gist of the passage that is 
wanted. One needs a firm grasp of the passage as a whole, a 
clear understanding of the central and most important thoughts 
and then good judgment in dealing with only that which is nec- 
essary to the realization of one's object in the sermon. If the 
exegetical dominates the homiletic mind, the preacher will surely 
fail to discriminate between what is important and what is un- 
essential to his purpose. The exegetical mind is a very differ- 
ent product from the homiletical mind. The one is accustomed 
to minute analysis. It subjects all parts alike of a given pas- 
sage to investigation. The other simply uses what is practically 
important. Skill is needed in homiletic analysis, then skill in 
combining the results synthetically. The first thing to do is to 
sift the elements of thought in the passage and then to select 
what one needs for homiletic use. Less skill in invention is 
needed here than in ordinary topical preaching, for the reason 
that the material in crude form lies near at hand in the text. 
But a great deal of skill in analysis is needed, skill in sifting 
out, selecting and ultimately in combining into unity the subject 
matter of the sermon. 

2. Historical and literary sense also is a necessary gift for 
the expository preacher. One needs to cultivate the ability to 



THE EXPOSITORY TYPE 159 

get behind a writer's language, to enter into his spirit, to make 
real to one's self the conditions of his thought, to get the flavor 
of what he says, to catch what is distinctive in it and to inter- 
pret him in a large and generous and suggestive way. In a 
word there is demanded the gift of the interpreter. No one 
has that gift who fails to see that the Bible must be studied as 
a literary product, just as any other book is studied, only more 
sympathetically and devoutly than any other book is entitled to 
be studied. It is very easy to foist one's own thought upon the 
writers of the Bible. Men of lively imagination, of nimble 
mental movement are very likely to do this. One must have 
care to bring out in a legitimate way what belongs to the writer, 
what he naturally suggests or what he furnishes as a natural 
basis for suggestion, rather than what is forced from him by 
some process of exegetical or homiletical twisting. A Biblical 
writer may prove suggestive far beyond his original intent, as 
any productive writer may. But far-fetched suggestions tor- 
ture the historic sense. No type of preaching exacts so. closely 
upon a well balanced judgment and upon a chastened taste, 
such as are inseparable from sound historic and literary sense. 
The attempt to modernize the Scriptures demands extreme 
care. Professional evangelists and preachers who are un- 
trained thinkers are very likely to deal in crude anachronisms 
in their expository preaching, that is, they deal unhistorically 
with Scripture scenes and characters, which is to say that they 
handle them without good exegetical as well as homiletical 
sense, or without properly translating the Scriptures into and 
applying them to the real present. The applications are 
strained. The scenes and characters masquerade in grotesque 
guises. Mr. Moody, despite his strong common sense and clear 
judgment and quickness of insight, was sometimes led into 
such anachronisms. All this results from the lack of a trained 
historic and literary sense. One needs the ability to transfer 
oneself into other times, to get into the lives of the men of other 



160 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

days, and to live them over with them. It demands also a 
knowledge of the people and the conditions of our time. Thus 
only may one successfully and correctly translate the past into 
the present. The Bible may be made a new book in the hands 
of a master of interpretation, like Frederick Robertson, who 
knows how to discover and to appropriate and apply its lessons 
to his own age. All this demands trained perception of his- 
toric analogies, so that one may interpret what is specific in 
history or experience by what is generic, or may interpret what 
is generic by what is specific. 

3. Aptitude for moral ideas, t. e., a trained facility in appre- 
hending and applying truth with reference to ethical interests, 
is another valuable quality in the expository preacher. 
Preachers differ greatly in this regard. Some seem to have re- 
ceived the gift, and some have cultivated it more fully than 
others. Important as a homiletic gift in general, it is particu- 
larly so here. Scotch and Welsh preachers are preeminently 
gifted in this aptitude for moralizing. It is possible that the 
expository habit in preaching has developed the gift. They 
have cultivated the skill to interject practical, admonitory or 
edifying suggestions into their exposition. The Puritan preach- 
ers were trained in the exercise of this gift. It is susceptible 
of indefinite cultivation and will prove a valuable posses- 
sion for any man who would be successful in this type of 
preaching. 

4. Power of vigorous, concentrated statement may also be 
named as a valuable expository gift. The great amount of ma- 
terial at hand necessitates the gift of condensation. The ex- 
pository preacher has an "embarrassment of riches." Success 
depends on condensation and concentration on what is of chief 
importance. Hence the value of the sermon form. With a 
well-conceived and well-stated theme, orderly plan, and careful 
method of development, one can realize to better advantage 
the requisite clearness and compactness of statement. 



THE EXPOSITORY TYPE 161 

5. Facility in the handling of descriptive and narrative ma- 
terial is sure to have carrying power in the expository dis- 
course. A great amount of this material is found in the Old 
Testament and this is one reason why it is so well adapted to 
and is so much used in this type of preaching. This facility is 
of special value in the historical and biographical discourse. 
The Scriptures in general strongly appeal to a picturesque and 
vivid literary style. 

6. Candor in dealing with difficulties is an important ethical 
gift in this type of sermon. One is summoned to the exercise 
of candor in this as in no other sort of preaching, for the ex- 
positor is sure to meet difficulties which he cannot honestly 
evade. Caution, of course, is needed. A preacher should be 
wise in dealing with what honest and worthy, and intelligent 
people, although possibly uninstructed in the vexed problems 
of Biblical criticism, have regarded and do regard as sacred. 
There is in general no need in our day of scandalizing anybody 
in interpreting the modern view of the Bible, save the rather 
exceptional man, who is so dense in his ignorance and preju- 
dice that he is incapable of illumination. But no special plead- 
ing is tolerable. The word of God should not be handled de- 
ceitfully but in such way as to commend it to every man's con- 
science, as well as intelligence, in the sight of God as well as 
of men. No hopeless dogmatic precommittals here, no mini- 
mizing of real difficulties, if also no parading of imaginary or 
relatively insignificant difficulties. This type of preaching tends 
to foster candor in the preacher, and this is a strong argument 
in its favor. It gives the preacher an opportunity to deal with 
Biblical difficulties, especially those of an ethical sort, in such 
way that the people will receive no shock. In no type of 
preaching can a man so well afford to deal with entire, but 
judicious frankness. Difficulties are taken up in a perfectly 
natural way and as a matter of course and are not dragged 
into or paraded in the sermon. 



162 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 



IV. The Value of Expository Preaching 

i. He who cultivates it will be in line with much of the 
most effective preaching of other days. It may be justly 
claimed that it has been the prevailing type of preaching in the 
history of the Christian church. Doubtless to the theological 
or homiletic radical the antiquity of anything is no argument 
in its favor. But it is natural for a person of sound judgment 
to infer the value of expository preaching for the future from 
its value in the past. It is interesting to see that in fact mod- 
ern Biblical investigation has turned the attention of preach- 
ers in this direction. Early Christianity was propagated by 
Biblical preaching. It rejected the dialectical and rhetorical 
methods of classical antiquity and won its victory without 
them. It needed new methods, methods that were its own. 
It is true that it developed a dialectic and rhetoric that were 
peculiar to itself, and that it ultimately appropriated them, as it 
appropriated a philosophy, from outside sources. But it won 
its first conquests by the power of the spirit that dwelt within 
it and was native to it, and by a subject matter that was its 
own, rather than by an imported subject matter or, what is 
specifically to the point in hand, by the form of its presenta- 
tion. And it is a method, which, in its artlessness, has always 
proved effective in any new awakening of the religious life. 
We get back to Biblical sources and methods as to the ever- 
fresh fountains and streams of religious life and power. It 
is then that preaching strikes out for itself simpler and more 
direct methods and more in accord with the genius of Chris- 
tianity. By far the larger part of Luther's and of Calvin's 
discourses are expository. In the Methodist revival of the 
eighteenth century the topical method was used by Wesley, 
who in this as otherwise followed customs that were common 
in the Anglican church. But this method was used success- 
fully in the interpretation of the Biblical material of the topical 



THE EXPOSITORY TYPE 163 

sermon, and the expository method itself became increasingly 
common. In the English revivals of the sixteenth and seven- 
teenth centuries this was largely the method by which they 
were furthered. The Puritan preachers were largely Biblical 
preachers, as were the non-conforming preachers of a subse- 
quent day. Baxter was a notable example of a fruitful Biblical 
preacher. Scotch preachers have to a large extent followed 
the expository method. German preaching in its best periods 
has renewed its Biblical tone and form and today it is largely 
expository or textual. French Protestant preaching has 
adopted this method to a considerable extent and in its early 
period almost wholly, and that despite the fact that French 
preaching in general is more largely topical than British or 
German, for the reason that it has been more fully subject to 
rhetorical culture. Saurin, the greatest of French Protestant 
preachers, generally made the first division of his discourse ex- 
pository, although his method would be called topical. In our 
own day, as in the past, we notice a tendency in periods of 
special religious awakening to a more Biblical basis for 
preaching, which has greatly enhanced its power. 

2. In line with the preceding consideration, one may note 
that in fact it is an acceptable method. It is in harmony not 
only with the needs, but with the wishes of the people. It is 
in line with the Biblical study of our day and with increasing 
interest in Biblical literature. The preacher knows, or should 
know, more about the Bible in many respects than preachers 
have ever known before. He has a more comprehensive estimate 
of it, critical, historical, literary, ethical and theological and 
has, or should have, a more intelligent interest in the study of 
it. Sunday school instruction, which has largely displaced pas- 
toral catechetics that was formerly based on the theology of 
the church, has done much in preparing the way among the 
people for Biblical preaching. The preacher may have there- 
fore, the greater confidence in the willingness of the members 



164 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

of his congregation to listen to it. Popular preachers like Dr. 
Joseph Parker have found that they can effectively reach men 
in this way, and in the presence of promiscuous assemblies 
have not been afraid to trust themselves to it. The career in 
New York City of preachers like Dr. William M. Taylor and 
Dr. John Hall, who have interested great congregations com- 
posed largely of men by a simple, straight-forward practical 
exposition and application of the teachings of the Bible, is 
noteworthy. All this indicates, and it is a very hopeful indica- 
tion, that there is increasing interest in this wonderful book. 
If one will watch a congregation in its reception of the truth 
presented in an effective expository manner, he will see and he 
will be impressed anew with the fact that the Bible is a pro- 
foundly interesting book to people of average intelligence, and 
the preacher who has tested this will have the greater confi- 
dence in attempting to utilize the fact. 

3. Another consideration is that it is a method which is in 
harmony with the preacher's primary function. The preacher 
is an interpreter of Biblical truth. Like all public speakers, 
he is indeed an advocate. But he is an interpreter before he is 
an advocate. One may interpret truth without expounding it 
Biblically. But in leaving the Scripture text and discussing the 
theme independently the preacher introduces a new factor into 
his work. He interprets indirectly and it may be meagrely. 
But let one make the Scripture passage the immediate basis of 
one's work and he will realize more immediately and more 
fully the interpreting function. It is well to oblige oneself, by 
the use of the expository method in a measure at least, to keep 
the interpreting function before the mind. It may be of ad- 
vantage to the entire work of preaching by holding other forms 
more closely to the Biblical basis. 

4. Its value for the work of religious instruction is entitled 
to special consideration. It yields an abundance of fresh and 
varied material. All advocates of it lay stress upon this point, 



THE EXPOSITORY TYPE 165 

and all preachers who have tested it have found it to be true. 
It is an economical use of preaching force, for it necessitates a 
thorough contextual study of the Scriptures and thus furnishes 
a large amount of material for preaching ready at hand. No 
wonder Dr. Joseph Parker was so fertile a preacher. His 
preaching was simply the product of continual Biblical study. 
In possession of all this material, one has an immense advan- 
tage at the outset. Out of such study, sermons are easily pro- 
duced. Recall individual sermons of Frederick Robertson, 
e. g., Jacob's wrestling, from the book of Genesis, and God's 
Revelation of Heaven, and many others. It is questionable 
whether we should have had these sermons in their present 
richness, suggestiveness and helpfulness without the previous 
expository study that was given to the books from which they 
come. In fact all of Robertson's preaching seems to have been 
based on his Biblical studies. And this is one of the sources of 
his great helpfulness as a preacher. Moreover this type of 
preaching is likely to secure more correct teaching than the 
topical method. The material is likely to be more reliable as 
well as abundant and varied. No studious man in our day can 
preach expositorily to any considerable extent, or with much 
success, without making use of modern methods of Biblical 
investigation. That the results of this investigation give the 
preacher an opportunity and an incentive to ground his people 
in a better knowledge of the Bible, is a strong argument in 
favor of this method. One who preaches expositorily upon the 
books of the Bible will as of necessity discuss their distinctive 
characteristics. In this way the uninstructed will come to 
understand them better, and thus the more readily measure 
their value for the religious life. This must have been the result 
of such expository discourses as those of Dr. R. W. Dale on 
the Letter to the Ephesians and those of Robertson on the book 
of Genesis, the books of Samuel, the book of the Acts and the 
Epistles to the Corinthians. Thus the human side of the Bible 



166 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

will emerge to view the more naturally and the divine side will 
be the more intelligently apprehended. One will be put upon the 
necessity of doing justice to the historic sense of the Scriptures 
and of educating one's congregation away from those false 
conceptions of them that are still prevalent. In this way, the 
Bible may become a more valuable book in the entire parish, for 
this sort of preaching will become tributary to the work of re- 
ligious instruction in the home and in the Sunday School and 
in the catechetical class. 

The teaching thus communicated is likely also to be the most 
weighty sort of teaching. It gets back to the fountain head of 
the Christian revelation. It is no product of subjective specu- 
lation. There is but very little doctrinal preaching in our day 
of any sort. But no topical preacher of the doctrinal type, 
even if we had him, could be as weightily instructive as the old 
New England doctrinal preacher in his day and according to 
his kind. That preaching was based on a well-defined system 
of doctrinal theology. It was after its sort doctrinally instruc- 
tive. It did its work, in its way a grand work. From the basis 
of our present homiletic and theologic standards, it is easy to 
criticise it. Of course it would not succeed in our day. There 
is no call for just that sort of preaching. The modern didactic 
sermon in order to be successful most be rhetorically attrac- 
tive. We no longer preach our systems of theology, even if 
we have them, and we should not preach them probably if we 
had them at hand more fully developed than we now have 
them. Preaching by suggestion rather than by elaboration best 
satisfies the modern congregation. But shallow, flippant crit- 
icism of our homiletic fathers is unseemly. That old doc- 
trinal preaching was instructive in its way. The hearer was 
strongly indoctrinated. And in our day there may be a great 
loss in the instructive, edifying quality of our preaching, unless 
we find some substitute or supplemental method of conveying 
solid religious truth. Where shall we find it? It is the Bibli- 



THE EXPOSITORY TYPE 167 

cal expository method that will do this work of instruction and 
to better purpose than the old doctrinal method. There is no 
reason why we should swing to the opposite extreme and decry 
doctrinal preaching in the distinctive sense. It is to be remem- 
bered also that in the presentation of Biblical truth in non- 
dogmatic form the results of one's study in doctrinal theology 
will appear and may well appear. But after all the Biblical, 
which is namely the non-dogmatic method of preaching, pre- 
sents religious instruction in the best manner. Not only is 
the substance weighty but the form may be made attractive. 
It may lay the foundation for a better and more successful 
type of doctrinal preaching, a type that will be more fully 
in harmony with the .tastes and culture of our time. Biblical 
science has become tributary to doctrinal theology, in fact has 
laid new foundations for it, and put it in line with present 
habits of thought. And just so a broader and a more correct 
expository and practical use of the Bible in the pulpit may lay 
the foundations for a better type of doctrinal preaching. 

It is contained in what has already been said, that the Bib- 
lical type tends to secure for preaching in general a desirable 
objective quality. It will be not only more fresh and varied 
and more correct and weighty teaching, but it will be less ex- 
posed to the manifold defects of subjective caprice, or sub- 
jective speculation.* As preaching strays from a Biblical 
basis, it tends to subjectivity. It may become rationalistically 
subjective or mystically subjective or aesthetically subjective 
according to the preacher's prevailing tendency or the ten- 
dency of his time, or of the circle to which he belongs. The 
restoration of the Biblical quality involves a restoration of 
objective quality both in susbtance and form. 

5. Its value to the religious life of the congregation com- 
mends it to our favor. The religious life can not grow unless 



*See Prof. Shedd's Homiletics and Pastoral Theology. Chap. I, 
page 21 ; Chap. Ill, page 75 ff. 



168 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

it is fed. It is Biblical pabulum, judiciously served, that is 
most wholesome and nutritious. In abandoning the Biblical 
type, preaching is likely to run into one-sidedness. It settles 
into ruts and it becomes unprofitable. In reaction it pushes 
from one extreme to another, all one-sided and ultimately un- 
profitable. This may be illustrated copiously. The Biblical 
method of the Reformation, for example, was abandoned for 
the dogmatic method of the post — Reformation, which was a 
survival and revival of the topical scholastic type. Then came 
a reaction against its unfruitfulness in favor of a mystical or 
pietistic, which was an extreme of the sentimental and emo- 
tional type of preaching. This too ran itself down and out 
into equal unfruitfulness. Now the interesting thing is that 
after these reactions, there is a return to Biblical preaching. 
The extremes of dogmatic and of pietistic sentimental 
preaching give place to the Biblical basis which is notable in 
our own day. Take as an illustration the preaching of the 
United States. The old doctrinal type had its run in New 
England. At one time there was almost nothing but doctrinal 
preaching of the topical or propositional type. Against the 
doctrines of this preaching and naturally against its method 
liberalism so-called reacted. As a result there emerged a type 
of preaching, modified in substance and form that was ration- 
alistic and ethical. It had better literary quality. This 
rationalizing, ethical, aesthetic or literary quality has charac- 
terized the preaching of the so-called liberal churches ever 
since. Other influences, with which we need not linger, have 
been at work modifying American preaching, securing for it a 
more sympathetic, a more ethical, a better literary quality and 
greater rhetorical effectiveness. And now the thing to be 
noted is that, amid all these movements, we see a tendency 
back to the Biblical type which tends to check the one-sided- 
ness and to correct the unprofitableness of any one dominant 
tendency. And it may be believed that all this indicates a rec- 



THE EXPOSITORY TYPE 169 

ognition of the needs of the religious life of the churches. For 
the churches have always thriven on such preaching. It tends 
to check extremes and furnishes nutriment for the religious 
life. It is a type of preaching that furthers the interests of 
the worshipping assembly. The pulpit orator and the pulpit 
oration have their place. But for the ordinary Christian con- 
gregation a large amount of Biblical preaching, shaped indeed 
with reference to rhetorical effectiveness, but still Biblical in 
substance and method, will prove most helpful to the religious 
life. 

6. But not the least important consideration is its value to 
the preacher himself. Take the case of Frederick Robertson 
as an illustration. Its value to him in a variety of ways is 
most notable, but especially in anchoring him to objective his- 
toric truth. By reason of his somewhat morbid and strongly 
subjective tendencies, thrown as he was into an age of dislodg- 
ment from the old foundations, he was in danger of a wreck 
of faith. No one can feel sure where he would have landed, 
if he had not been held by objective, historic, Biblical truth. 
His Biblical method of preaching may have secured him also 
from an extreme of the dialectical or dogmatic method, at least 
it may have been influential in arresting and checking such 
tendency. For it is noteworthy that Robertson was not only a 
man of very strong convictions, but of very resolute will and 
might easily have become a polemist. Moreover, he was a 
man of great dialectical ability and might have developed as 
much dialectical skill as Newman. If he had trained himself 
as an advocate of Church theology, he might have become a 
most powerful popular dogmatist and apologist, as much so as 
Robert South, and he might have become a bishop in the 
Anglican church! For he was by far the most powerful 
preacher the church of England produced in the last century. 
But he chose the better way, better for himself, better for his 
church, better for all who have felt his power, better for the 



i;o THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

world, and he has left a more lasting influence than otherwise 
might have been possible. He chose the good part that never 
shall be taken away. 

7. A final word should be spoken in behalf of its rhetorical 
effectiveness. Much expository preaching has doubtless lacked 
such effectiveness. But preachers like Robertson and Parker 
illustrate its rhetorical possibilities. The Biblical material of 
sueh preaching is rich in rhetorical and poetic suggestiveness. 
It must be concrete and illustrative preaching. What has been 
said about the rhetorical value of texts in general for the work 
of preaching, may be said with increased emphasis of the use 
of the Scriptures in expository preaching. The Bible deals 
with human life in its most intense reality. Preaching from 
such a book naturally cultivates the concrete habit of mind, 
and it will speak to the imagination and emotions. It deals with 
the human as well as the divine heart. Preaching that moves 
in such a realm will naturally be simple and practical and 
human, for its aim will be primarily to interpret the truth with 
reference to the interests of common human life. It does not 
call for great oratory. It calls for simple, clear, straight, vig- 
orous, sometimes pungent, cumulative indeed, but plain, un- 
artistic presentation, with reference to the interests of a purer, 
nobler, more intelligent indeed, but above all a more practical 
Christian life. 



CHAPTER II 
THE DOCTRINAL TYPE 

I. The Conception of Doctrinal Preaching 
There is in our day a strong reaction against what is known 
specifically as doctrinal preaching. To meet this prejudice and 
in the interest of effectiveness, it were well for us at the out- 
set to secure a limit for our conception of it. We will limit 
it then to the presentation of those truths that are properly 
articles of a Christian creed. 

Doctrinal preaching is the preaching of doctrine. Its ma- 
terial is doctrine, its object is to convince, its method is proof. 
But what are we to understand by doctrine as the term is used 
here? It is natural to think of it in the first place as a truth 
that does not stand by itself alone. It does not find its com- 
plete significance in itself. It is a related truth. It exists in 
organic connection with other truths. It is part of the system 
of Christian thought, which is evolved from the thought con- 
tent of Christianity. 

It is a truth, therefore, that is central and fundamental. It 
is its importance for Christian thought and life that fixes its 
place. Not every Christian truth may be elevated to the rank 
of a central and fundamental doctrine. The sort and size of 
the truth must be taken into account. A doctrine in the sense 
intended here is not secured by throwing any sort of relatively 
insignificant Christian thought into the form of a proposition. 
It is a truth selected on account of its importance from a large 
number of minor truths and lifted into prominence. It thus 
becomes a significant article of Christian faith. The doctrine 



172 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

of the atonement, e. g., is selected from a group of truths re- 
lating to the saving significance of Christ's work. A doctrine 
then, as understood in this discussion, embodies what is cen- 
tral and fundamental in Christianity and is of supreme interest 
for Christian faith and life. Such a truth is capable of being 
expressed in terms of rational thought. It can be formulated, 
provisionally at least. A doctrine is a truth, but not every 
truth is a doctrine. Any unformulated statement of Christian 
thought may contain a truth. Many of them perhaps. But 
the discussion of such a truth would not be doctrinal preaching 
in the sense intended here. A truth becomes a doctrine when 
it can be put into a complex proposition. The atonement for 
example may be a fact, or a truth or a doctrine. The fact is 
that the life and death of Christ had relation to human sin. 
It is a fact independently of any accurate or complete concep- 
tion of its significance, or any formal statement of its rationale. 
It is Christ's work, it is God's work and is objectively valid 
independently of any theory of its validity. But to preach 
the fact of the atonement, simply as a fact, is not to preach 
the doctrine. The truth of the atonement belongs to our con- 
ception of the meaning of redemption and relates to Christ's 
living and dying as a redemptive provision. But this does not 
necessarily involve any formulated statement as to the method 
by which his sacrificial life and death become valid for our 
redemption. The doctrine properly deals with this question. 
It is a question of method, of the inner relation of the atone- 
ment to redemption, the rationale of its saving significance. 
The doctrine at any rate has, with whatever success, or lack of 
success, undertaken to answer this question. One may preach 
the fact or the truth, and it may not be necessary to formulate 
it into a doctrine and present it from the pulpit. It is gen- 
erally regarded in our day as unnecessary. But it would seem 
to be desirable that an educated and intelligent Christian min- 
ister should be able to tell his hearers what is meant by the 



THE DOCTRINAL TYPE 173 

saving significance of Christ's life and death, should be able 
to interpret its rational and moral value and should be able 
to furnish an intelligent basis for believing and accepting it. 
A doctrine then, as intended here, is a related, fundamental, 
formulated truth. 

It is evident, therefore, that doctrinal preaching is something 
more and other than didactic preaching. All instructive 
preaching is didactic, whatever its subject matter or method 
of presentation. All helpful preachers are instructive but not 
necessarily doctrinal. There are but very few doctrinal 
preachers in our day. But no man would be worthy of his 
position who could not instruct his congregation. Even the 
preacher who aims chiefly at ethical and emotional incentive, 
in so far as he elucidates the truth, is at the same time a 
didactic preacher. 

Neither is doctrinal identical with dogmatic preaching. The 
word dogmatic has a variety of meanings and is a little diffi- 
cult to define. In general it suggests something authoritative. 
The proper and in theological circles the accepted meaning of 
dogma is the formulated statement of a doctrinal concensus. 
It bears the mark of some sort of agreement. And this, if 
nothing else, secures for it a certain note of authority. It may 
be the authority of ecclesiastical statute law. It may be the 
authority of what may be called common ecclesiastical law or 
the tacit agreement or consensus of those who belong to the 
same communion or church. It is an authority that may or 
may not be enforced. But in any case there is a certain sug- 
gestion of authority about it. It may only be rational or moral 
authority. But all who accept dogma are expected in a general 
way at least to adhere to it. They at any rate accept it "for 
substance of doctrine." Dogma then belongs to the doctrinal 
foundations of a church, sect or denomination. It is probably 
this notion of authority associated with the word, although it 
may be a very shadowy sort of authority, that, in this demo- 



174 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

cratic age, makes it offensive. It may not be ecclesiastically 
enforced at all, and yet there lingers about it a certain note 
of positiveness, of assurance as of something that should be 
accepted, even if upon nothing more than rational and moral 
grounds. But there may be to some an offense even in this. 
Accordingly, when we speak of a dogmatic preacher, we gen- 
erally mean one whose tone is rather more positive, or con- 
fident or authoritative than we like, as if he expected us to 
accept his teaching as a matter of course. But doctrinal 
preaching need not be dogmatic in tone in any offensive, over- 
authoritative sense. Surely it should not be regarded as of- 
fensively dogmatic because it is positive. Much less need it 
be dogmatic in the proper ecclesiastical sense of the term, 
i. e., as containing the teaching that somehow bears the mark 
of church authority. For one may not fully accept the doc- 
trinal standards of his church, may not accept them at all save 
upon the basis of most liberal construction, as is the case in all 
Protestant churches that still retain their doctrinal standards. 
Or one may minister to a church that has no enforced or en- 
forceable standards, as in the Baptist or Congregational com- 
munions. Or one may accept the doctrinal statements of his 
theological school or teacher. Or he may formulate his own 
statements of doctrine. They need not bear the mark of 
ecclesiastical authority or even of church consensus. Doctrinal 
and dogmatic preaching may indeed be identical. And why 
should one object? It does not injure a doctrine, or render it 
less true or valuable or worthy of acceptance that it has been 
formally accepted by a church, and so become its dogma, pro- 
vided its acceptance by its members is not enforced uncon- 
ditionally or rather is not enforced at all ecclesiastically, or 
by the church as claiming to be a doctrinal authority. Why 
should one be afraid of the word dogma, so long as it stands 
for the right thing, and is used in the correct sense ? But doc- 
trinal preaching need not be dogmatic, even in this mild 



THE DOCTRINAL TYPE 175 

sense. And in general it is better to discriminate between 
them. 

Moreover, doctrinal preaching need not be rationalistic or 
speculative preaching. Elements of speculation doubtless must 
enter into all doctrinal preaching. To speculate is to examine, 
to investigate. It involves analysis, comparison, classification, 
arrangement of the data of a subject, Out of these data, an- 
alyzed, sifted, collected, classified, hypotheses, or provisional 
theories are formulated, /. e. t rational statements of the results 
of investigation. Then these provisional theories are put into 
relatively permanent form and they are ready for use. In our 
investigation of theologic truth we follow, or should follow 
substantially this method. In all this there is speculation. 
Even in presenting the results of investigation, and it is re- 
sults that the preacher does present, whether by the inductive or 
deductive method, and the deductive is generally the preacher's 
method, and in presenting proofs and illustrations of the truth 
of the doctrine discussed, one enters measurably upon a specu- 
lative, a rationalizing process. In a word speculation is in- 
volved in all rational investigation. But this is not what we 
mean when we speak of speculative preaching. We mean that 
the preacher bases his teaching upon inadequate data, data of 
revelation, or of experience, or of fact, •. e., he rationalizes 
or he theorizes too much, i. e., his theories are not adequately 
verified. They are hypotheses. Too large an element of un- 
certainty is thus introduced into his work. In a word when 
we say that a preacher is too speculative, we mean that he is 
an un-Biblical rationalist or an irrational or visionary theorist, 
who has no respect for his data of facts. Such preaching is 
of course unreliable, as being based on too much unverified 
theorizing. But doctrinal preaching need not and should not 
be speculative in this objectionable sense. Preaching, of 
course, can never be infallible, could not be though based on 
an inerrant book. Any human statement of doctrine, though it 



i 7 6 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

might have behind it the authority of an infallible book, or 
an infallible church, would have elements of imperfection, un- 
less the teacher were himself infallible. Statements of doctrine 
can only be approximately correct, and need revision. But 
doctrines based on sound Biblical data, and supported by ade- 
quate arguments, i.e., by appeal for verification to rational, 
ethical and spiritual experience, can not be called rationalistic 
or speculative in any objectionable sense. Nor can the preaching 
of such doctrines be speculative in any objectionable sense. 

II. Methods of Doctrinal Preaching 
The object of the sermon determines its method of treat- 
ment, or its class or type. In all preaching of this sort, the 
ultimate aim is the same. But in reaching this the immediate 
aim may vary. The immediate object may be simply to sup- 
port the doctrine, assuming no opposition and no antagonist. 
Or the object may be to defend it, assuming that it is 
challenged and needs defense. Or the object may be to 
attack the contrasted error, and the antagonist who 
supports it, assuming the necessity of fighting down 
error in order to establish the truth. The ultimate aim 
is the same. It is to convince and persuade and thereby to 
establish truth and character in and by the truth. But the vary- 
ing methods yield three types of doctrinal discourse. It gives 
us the sermon that is positive and declarative in method, one 
that is defensive and apologetic and one that is aggressive and 
polemical. 

i. In the declarative method the aim is simply to interpret, 
and to support by interpretation, the doctrine discussed. It is 
an expository, not a defensive or belligerent task. It assumes 
that the doctrine is obscure in itself, or in its evidences and 
only needs interpretation, and the support thus furnished. It 
does not assume that the truth of it is generally challenged or 
doubted or denied, or if it does assume it, the assumption is 



THE DOCTRINAL TYPE 177 

obscured. Of course there are Christian doctrines enough that 
are denied. But there are many that are simply ignored, or 
neglected or forgotten or if accepted at all accepted in a con- 
ventional, matter-of-course manner. To assume or to give 
credence to the assumption that people are spending their time 
and energy in fighting all the great truths of Christianity might 
put both hearer and preacher in an objectionably defensive or 
antagonistic or polemical temper of mind. There may be a 
certain strength in the assumption, or even in the seeming of 
the assumption, that they are not and can not be successfully 
contested. There may be apologetic value in ignoring such 
denial when it is known to exist. The doctrinal preacher 
should be adroit and skillful as well as sincere. It is especially 
important to recognize the fact that some important truths of 
Christianity are forgotten or neglected or ignored, rather than 
questioned, denied or rejected. People sometimes suppose 
themselves to reject what they simply ignore. In periods of 
religious controversy, doctrinal preaching will necessarily take 
the apologetic or polemic form. Too much of it has taken 
the latter form. But controversy subsides, and once contested 
truths fall into neglect. They are either accepted as a matter 
of orthodox course or are set aside as of no practical or 
theoretic significance or importance and become objects of in- 
difference. Other truths come into discussion. This is the 
case in our own day. A large class of valuable Christian 
truths are simply ignored. There is no interest in them. It is 
these truths that may well be treated in the expository or de- 
clarative method. Their chief need, or men's chief need with 
respect to them is interpretation and evidence. Put before men 
in a positive, declarative manner, they may win the readier 
response and acceptance. There is no apologetic interest 
hostile to them, and when once their practical significance 
for the Christian life becomes clear, they may be the more 
easily welcomed. There is a large group of teachings centering 



178 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

in the supremacy, priority and sovereignty of God, that were 
once prominent in theology and in preaching. These truths 
might well be resuscitated in new form. They might be pre- 
sented as topics in Biblical theology and interpreted in the 
clearer light of present knowledge. The minds of people are 
no longer set against them in a controversial interest. Their 
value for the Christian life may easily be presented and made 
manifest and all this would prove favorable to their practical 
acceptance. There are a large number of Christian teachings 
that might well be presented in the same way. The doctrine 
of sacred Scripture or phases of the doctrine, the doctrine of 
future probation and future punishment might well be dis- 
cussed in this way. If one permits himself to assume a mani- 
fest apologetic attitude in his investigation and discussion par- 
ticularly of subjects about which there is a good deal of sensi- 
tiveness, he may easily become an advocate, when he should 
be only an interpreter. He will have a case to make out, rather 
than a truth to expound. The traditionalist easily becomes an 
adversary, and the apologist a polemist. A preacher of this 
sort may stir up and involve in difficulty about as many ques- 
tions as he answers and may perplex about as many minds as 
he convinces. There is some basis for the claim that the de- 
fense of the great truths of Christianity may well be left not 
wholly of course, but to a considerable extent to the theological 
school and the religious press and that the pulpit may well give 
itself, not wholly of course, but largely, to the non-polemical, 
or even non-apologetic method of interpreting and inculcating 
them. And yet there is place and demand for apologetic 
preaching. 

2. This brings us to the second method. The demand for 
apologetic preaching is involved in the broader question of the 
demand for Christian apology in general. Christianity has been, 
is and will be attacked. Should it be defended? And is a 
theory of defense needed ? That is, is that branch of theology 



THE DOCTRINAL TYPE 179 

known as apologetics needed? Is it of any value? There can 
hardly be a doubt as to the proper answer. Apologetics is a 
legitimate, a necessary branch of theology. The theological 
school at least needs it. But does the pulpit need it? It is 
sometimes assumed that it does not. Let the school and the 
press keep in hand the work of defense, but let the pulpit pre- 
sent the claims of Christianity in a positive, affirmative way; 
let it deal with the beneficent results of Christianity. This is 
all the defense needed from the pulpit. Christianity can make 
its own defense, if it is well presented and well exemplified. 
But if the pulpit does nothing more than point to the effects of 
Christianity it defends it. It is one of the most effective 
methods of apology. And the pulpit needs it. The world 
needs it. But it needs more. Let us, then, consider this more 
fully. 

(1) Christianity has been attacked and it has been suc- 
cessfully defended. What might have been the result, without 
such defense is hardly uncertain. It would have been crushed 
out, as Protestantism was, or nearly so, in France. Contro- 
versy is often bad, but it is simply a historic necessity. The 
history of Christianity and of the church is largely one of con- 
troversy. Our Lord defended not only himself, but his teach- 
ings, and his teachings more vigorously than himself. The 
sermon on the mount is an apologetic discourse. It is a de- 
fense as well as exposition of his conception of the kingdom of 
God, as a kingdom of personal righteousness, in contrast with 
the conception of the conventional religionists of his day. 
The parables are apologetic, often polemical. They stung 
the Pharisees to the quick, because they saw and felt 
that they were attacked, and they set themselves against 
him. They are a most adroit, truly oriental and mightily 
effective method of defense and attack. The Apostles 
defended not only themselves but their teachings and 
their religion. Against heathenism thev defended their 



180 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

religion. Against Judaism they defended their peculiar 
teachings. Paul had and defended what he called "My 
Gospel." In the Roman and Galatian letters, he defends 
Christianity as a universal religion against Judaism, a religion 
of narrow particularism, of external legal ceremony and of 
special privilege. In the Ephesian and Colossian letters he de- 
fends a spiritual universalism against materialistic speculations 
that would limit and degrade it. In the Corinthian letters he 
defends not only his apostolic calling, but important Christian 
teachings, like the Resurrection, that had been assailed. The 
letter to the Hebrews is an apology, a defense of Christian uni- 
versalism. Christianity is Judaism completed, sublimated in the 
form of a universal and absolute spiritual religion. The pre- 
scriptions of the pastoral epistles are apologetic, largely polem- 
ical. There is a quasi-apologetic element even in the Gospels. 
They are each adjusted to some interest in a semi-apologetic 
manner. The "tendenz" theory as applied to the book of the 
Acts is not without basis. It is an advocacy of Pauline Chris- 
tianity. It intends to magnify it. The work of the post-Apos- 
tolic church was largely apologetic. It carried on the defense, 
which the Apostolic church had begun against Judaism on the 
one side and heathenism on the other. The medieval church 
defended Christianity with scholastic weapons and the schol- 
astic awakening was, in the church, largely an awakening to 
the rational defense of its Christianity. The Reformation 
period was one not only of apology but of polemic. The post- 
Reformation in its defense recalled once more the scholastic 
method and with modifications it held its own for more than 
two centuries. It strongly influenced the preaching of English 
and Scotch Protestantism and reached on even into the last 
century in the preaching of New England. Recall the con- 
troversies of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and of 
the American churches in the early part of the nineteenth. 
We have our apology today, but of a greatly modified char- 



THE DOCTRINAL TYPE 181 

acter. And we have our science of Apologetics. It is some- 
times treated as a branch of dogmatic theology, and properly. 
Thus largely in the United States. It enters into historic theol- 
ogy and necessarily. And sometimes it is a branch of prac- 
tical theology. Thus in Scotland. Here Apologetics is brought 
into connection with homiletics. Apology is assumed as nec- 
essary for the work of preaching. No preacher is properly 
trained for the pulpit who is not trained in apology. This may 
be overdone. Perhaps it has been. But the basis of the as- 
sumption is correct. That the science of Apologetics is thus 
assigned to different branches of theology may suggest its 
significance. But the point in hand is that as Christianity has 
been and must have been defended, so will it and must it be in 
the future. 

(2) The conditions of our own age accentuate the demand 
for apologetic preaching. Consider, for example, the charac- 
ter of American life. It has all the faults and is exposed to 
all the dangers of an extreme democratic life. Speech is free, 
libidinously and anarchistically free. The press is free, often 
vulgarly and vilely free. Attacks on religion are freely bruited 
about and popularized. The American people are a reading 
people, and everybody knows the latest scepticism and 
heathenism. The same conditions may exist in other coun- 
tries, but hardly to the same extent, and the relation of the 
pulpit to the general public is somewhat different in this coun- 
try. Now, how shall the democratizing of criticism and 
scepticism and negation be counterworked, if not by the 
pulpit? 

Consider also the insidious character of this spirit of ne- 
gation. The prevailing naturalism of our day is almost effu- 
sively religious in its tone. It is sentimental, rather than 
scornful, as it was in the eighteenth century. It wishes to be 
regarded as preeminently the friend of genuine Christianity, 
i. e., the Christianity which it regards as in harmony with the 



182 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

culture of the age. It simply wishes to relieve it of its sur- 
plus beliefs, which are assumed to be stumbling blocks in men's 
way. They are external to Christianity, have grown with its 
later development and do not belong to the original stock. No 
man can deny the sincerity of this naturalistic spirit, nor ques- 
tion the genuine religious character of many of its subjects. 
The various forms of rationalism claim to be preeminently 
patrons of a rational, intelligent and intelligible Christianity, 
such as the progress of the age demands. 

Agnosticism would have us understand that it exercises pre- 
eminently the virtues of religious modesty and reverence and 
truthfulness, and self poise. It magnifies the importance of a 
religion that respects verifiable facts and is satisfied only with 
verifiable truth. It is the critic and sworn enemy of all rash- 
ness and immodesty in the concerns of religion. 

Pantheism is devout and human and aesthetic, even if non- 
moral. Even atheism has a respectful tone and habit and finds 
a place for subjective religion. It develops reverence for hu- 
manity and it sentimentally worships "our Father man." This 
insidious character, as it may be called, however unconscious 
of deceit, should be recognized, and it should be met by a type 
of apologetics that will adjust itself to its methods and skill- 
fully counter-work it. 

Consider further the somewhat concessive tendency of those 
who would be regarded as liberal-minded men towards the 
critical and disintegrating temper of our time. Men affect 
broad views of religious and theological questions. They are 
inclined, therefore, to make generous and liberal concessions 
to the agnostic and destructive spirit and they are likely to 
over-do it. Concessions, of course, must be made, for criti- 
cism has scored many important points. But there is a limit. 
And the fact that we are obliged to concede so much may well 
put us on our guard, lest we give away our whole case. We 
need bracing. We must make concessions to naturalism, but 



THE DOCTRINAL TYPE 183 

we may and should do it without giving away our super- 
naturalism. Naturalism begins with a high assumption, the 
assumption of the impossibility or rather of the unbelievable 
possibility of miracles. But why may not the supernaturalist 
have his assumption? Sober-minded, scientific and philo- 
sophical thinkers among naturalists concede in fact that, from 
the theistic point of view, miracles are not antecedently im- 
possible but are even easily thinkable. Why then may not 
the Christian theist assume, and reasonably, that as related 
to the unique personality of Jesus Christ, miracles are ante- 
cedently probable and are certainly easily thinkable. The 
Christian theist surely has as much ground for his assumption 
of probability as the agnostic for his concession of possibility. 
Consider, moreover, the needs of the practical life of the 
church in our day. Without positive preaching the church will 
suffer, and a careless habit of mind with respect to the grounds 
of Christian belief and the basis of defense for Christianity 
will inevitably appear in a lack of positive preaching. Such 
preaching will be over-concessive. It will leave the impression 
of a hisses faire habit of mind and of general uncertainty 
about vital questions. And who can doubt the result of this 
upon the practical life of the church, and especially upon its 
missionary interests. An era of general unsettlement and of 
uncertainty with respect to the great facts and truths of Chris- 
tianity would be sure to result in a serious loss of missionary 
life. Conceptions and statements of truth of course change. 
Apologetic methods change, and there can be no doubt that 
the missionary work of the church calls for a better apologetic 
than any to which it has entrusted itself in times past. But 
no apologetic at all means failure of missionary life. No man 
needs so good an apologetic, particularly so good a theodicy as 
a missionary. A large part of his work must be apologetic as 
related to the difficulties and objections that are brought 
against the religion he advocates. But the church at home as 



184 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

well as the missionary at the front needs a positive tone in the 
preacher for the bracing of its practical life. 

3. In defending the truth, or what is regarded as such, 
it is sometimes necessary to attack the opposing error. By ex- 
posing the falseness of its opposite the truth may be seen in a 
clearer light and its value may be enhanced by disclosing the 
mischievous character of error. There is a place, therefore, 
for the polemic and in a modified form even for the philippic 
in the pulpit. It is conceivable that a time might come when 
there would be demanded a vigorous onset upon the grosser 
forms of error, intellectual as well as moral. If one were to 
attempt it, he would better make thorough work of it. But it 
should be rarely attempted. There has been too much polem- 
ical preaching and of the bad-tempered sort. It may have 
been of some value, but it has done much harm and the evil 
as well as good results remain. One may indeed preach polem- 
ically in a generous, manly and even thoroughly gracious 
manner, and if we are to have it at all, this is the sort needed. 
But we best meet the temper of our time by the non-polemic 
habit. The attitude of opponents in our day is genial. The 
respectable critic cherishes the non-polemical temper. A man 
like Robert Ingersoll is exceptional. He is an anachronism. 
He belongs to the vulgar crowd of scoffers common in the 
eighteenth century. Violent and vulgar attacks are not the 
fashion. The tone is patronizing rather than polemical. The 
preacher should adjust himself to this temper and tone. 

Moreover the spirit of the church is in general hostile to 
this method. It is catholic and tolerant in so far as it is in- 
telligent and the impression is widely prevalent that polemical 
preaching fails to realize its object. Men are inclined to look 
for the truth that lurks behind error, far more so than was 
once the case. The best modern preaching follows this 
method. 

But the chief objection against polemical preaching is tfiat it 



THE DOCTRINAL TYPE 185 

is likely to be unjust. One becomes an advocate who has ;a 
case to make out, and ceases to be a reliable interpreter. The 
advocate easily becomes the special pleader. He is identified 
with his case. The opponent easily becomes a personal enemy. 
He is identified with the error he advocates. It is the more 
important therefore, by all legitimate and even illegitimate 
means, to make out a case against him. In such condition of 
mind fair treatment is impossible. No one can do justice to 
what he regards as an error, if he has no care to get at the 
truth that lurks behind it. No one can do justice to an op- 
ponent, if he has no care to get his point of view and no moral 
ability or perhaps only a crippled mental ability to interpret 
what the opponent is trying to express. The polemist is likely 
to make a personal matter of his advocacy. It is his cause 
quite as much as the cause of truth. Hence originate arro- 
gance and ill temper. The very word has become suggestive 
of the fighting spirit and of bad temper. It is a battle, ft is a 
war, in which this defender of the faith is engaged, not of 
truth with error, but between two men or two parties. The 
influence on the men and hardly less on the cause of truth is 
bad. 

III. The Importance of Doctrinal Preaching 
Its importance as a type of homiletic product may be con- 
sidered from three points of view, those of substance, form 
and tone. 

1. The value of doctrinal preaching as related to its subject 
matter. 

(1) Consider its apologetic value, its value in getting the 
important truths and facts of Christianity definitely before the 
minds of men. It clears up difficulties. It is said that men 
know more about Christianity than they are willing to appro- 
priate and apply. This is measurably true. Moral rather than 
mental perversity often blocks their way to the light. But if 



1 86 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

this dictum implies or is meant to imply that those who re- 
ject Christianity always have adequately clear conceptions of 
it and do not need to know more about it in order to act in- 
telligently with respect to it, it is false. The fact is that the 
great realities of Christianity are often invested with much 
obscurity. A well-defined conception and clear statement of 
them and of the evidence on which they rest, are none too 
common, even among intelligent and educated people of 
virtuous and honorable lives. It is not unlikely that a min- 
ister may, without being aware of it, be surrounded by those 
who are silently perplexed by difficulties that may result from 
wrong or inadequate conceptions of Christianity. They reject 
it, or at least many of its truths, because they, like the late 
Professor Huxley, have found no satisfactory way of meeting 
their difficulties. Preachers in our day have to deal with 
people who do not know Christianity adequately. Wrong 
statements of truth may be responsible for this. A wrong 
statement of a truth or fact that it declared to be fundamental 
may work immense harm. Much of a preacher's work, and 
perhaps more in our day than ever before, consists in removing 
difficulties of various sorts that block or are assumed to block 
men's way into God's Kingdom. Among these difficulties in- 
adequate or perverted conceptions of Christian truth may be 
most serious in their consequences. The value to a preacher 
in such a day as this of a good apologetic method, especially 
the value of a good theodicy, the value of a worthy conception 
and statement of doctrines that are held to be fundamental, 
can not be overestimated. The need of familiarity with the 
mental perplexities of men and of a training that will fit one 
to meet these perplexities is also obvious. 

Doctrinal preaching also aids men in discriminating between 
what is primary and what is secondary in Christian truth. It 
will expound what is primary and will show men how to es- 
timate at its true value what is secondary. And so when theo- 



THE DOCTRINAL TYPE 187 

logical discussions arise in the churches, as they have arisen 
and will again, and when men are likely to be thrown into a 
panic, those who are grounded in what is primary and funda- 
mental will be able to estimate the significance of the dis- 
cussion and will know how to judge its important features, 
Much doctrinal preaching in days past has failed to discrim- 
inate between what is primary and what is secondary or even 
to recognize the existence of such a distinction. Relatively 
unimportant doctrines have been thrust into the foreground 
and magnified as of fundamental importance, upon which sal- 
vation itself may depend. Preaching based on controversial 
creeds is quite likely thus to err. The controversial creed lacks 
theological perspective. Preaching based on such creeds has 
a like disturbance of balance. Hence the value of creeds that 
belong to non-polemical periods or that have been sifted and 
revised and made more catholic in substance and tone. Such 
creeds will summarize the primary articles of the Christian 
faith. It is a desirable thing for the preacher to study such 
formularies with reference to pulpit discussion. 

Such preaching begets confidence in the reasonableness of 
Christianity. It will, at least, aim at this, and if intelligent 
preaching, it will realize its aim. Rationality is not rational- 
ism. Rationality becomes rationalism, and the rational be- 
comes the rationalistic only by a one-sided use of reason. A 
broadly rational estimate of Christianity will take into account 
its adaptation to the whole complex nature of man, not to his 
intelligence alone. It will find its verification and vindication 
not merely in the conceptual or speculative understanding, but 
in the moral and religious nature as well. The word reason 
covers more ground and has a fuller content than it once had. 
But religion must commend itself to intelligence as such. 
Otherwise it will not win acceptance. Intelligence has been 
active in the domain of religion for many centuries. Doctrinal 
preaching will respect the results of such activity in religious 



188 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

investigation. It assumes that human intelligence may venture 
to deal with the facts of revelation and of religious experi- 
ence and bring back valid results. It assumes that what com- 
mends itself to moral and religious manhood will somehow 
become domesticated in intelligence, and that what commends 
itself to sound mental judgment will also commend itself to 
the heart and conscience and win assent. Science is as im- 
portant in the domain of religion as in any sphere where 
thought is active. It has secured results that are of great value 
to the church, and for a minister to cherish and express con- 
tempt for the science with which his profession deals is dis- 
tinctly discreditable to his intelligence and his moral manhood. 
It is a mark of ignorance or perversity or both and is a bad 
habit. Of course, the sphere of truth is vastly larger than 
the sphere of doctrine. No statement of doctrine can be final. 
But doctrine has its place in the pulpit, defective though its 
statements may be. 

(2) Note its indirect value for purposes of strong im- 
pression as well as definite instruction. It deals with a quality 
of teaching that edifies, enriches and ennobles character. It 
grapples with vital questions. They are the bottom questions 
on which a religion that claims to be absolute and universal 
rests. We are exalted and ennobled by that which is above 
us. It is the great truth that greatens both preacher and 
hearer. No man can get into a realm so large and wealthy 
without being enlarged and enriched by it. It intensifies and 
expands one's mental activities. It quickens the imagination. 
It stirs and enriches the emotional life. We are in the habit 
of sneering at scholasticism. But with all its defects it gave 
preaching a new and strong impulse. The pulpit needed a 
new instrument. It found it in scholastic logic and it has had 
a very powerful influence in various ways upon the preaching 
of the church. It has been a very productive type of preach- 
ing and has been wide in its scope. Puritan preaching, as a 



THE DOCTRINAL TYPE 189 

survival of the scholastic method, was doubtless rhetorically 
defective. But in its way it was powerful preaching. What- 
ever else may be said about it, it was not weak. It handled 
great themes, and its processes of reasoning were close and 
cogent. No one can even read the product without being 
strongly impressed by it. A large theme always opens deeply 
and broadly in the hands of a strong and well-trained man. 
It is inexhaustible. The capacity of such a theme for in- 
ference or deduction is evidence of its productiveness. Much 
remains to be said after the main discussion is ended. The 
richest practical suggestions are secured by tracing the bearings 
of a great Christian truth and it is precisely the opening up of 
this truth in its doctrinal aspects that adequately discloses the 
practical lines along which it runs. The preacher who enters 
this field with the best results of modern training and who 
applies the modern homiletic methods will find his whole man- 
hood enriched. 

Moreover, it is this type of preaching that furnishes a basis 
for effective ethical preaching. No complete system of Chris- 
tian ethics is possible in entire independence of Christian dog- 
matics. Christian doctrine furnishes a basis for fully devel- 
oped Christian ethics. In like manner doctrinal preaching fur- 
nishes a basis for the best sort of ethical preaching of the 
Christian type. How can one present effectively any duty or 
any virtue or any law or any supreme aim of life in entire 
independence of the fundamental truth or teaching or prin- 
ciple on which it rests ? When we speak of a moral life from 
the Christian point of view, whether as related to the supreme 
aim of that life as its highest good, or to its governing law, or 
to its duties, or to its virtues, we pre-suppose the revelation of 
Christ as related to those factors in our conception of a Chris- 
tian moral life. And the first thing to do is to find out what 
that revelation is, i. e., what its doctrinal concepts are, its doc- 
trinal content. Christianity is a revelation of facts and truths 



190 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

that have practical relations and applications. But in order 
to apply them we must first know them. They must be in- 
vestigated as teachings provisionally at least, before they can be 
adequately conceived and stated in their ethical form, as in- 
volving a supreme ethical good or a supreme ethical law or as 
containing ethical duties and virtues, and before they can be 
applied in the most thorough way to character and conduct. 
Consider for example the doctrinal and ethical aspects of the 
atonement. How can one know in the fullest sense the moral 
claims of the atonement without knowing measurably well at 
least what the atonement is? And how can this be known 
without doctrinal investigation? 

2. Consider the value of doctrinal preaching as related to 
its form. 

Doctrinal preaching must be preeminently methodical 
preaching. One must state his truth clearly and exactly, illus- 
trate it convincingly as well as persuasively, argue it cogently, 
and conduct the work of proof in an orderly manner. Its suc- 
cess depends on the clearness, exactness and orderliness of 
method from beginning to end, upon its unity, proportion and 
progress. Everything in its place and the whole thing must 
move on to a measurably successful, if not victorious issue, or 
collapse in humiliating defeat. Other sermons may have a 
certain sort or measure of success, though they come through 
chaos. But this must be organized and the builder must be 
able to look upon his finished work and behold that it is "very 
good." No one reasons well who reasons ramblingly. A 
preacher of powerful imagination may set logic at defiance, 
but his vocation is not in the sphere of doctrinal teaching. He 
who undertakes to set a great truth before the mind, lay bare 
its foundations, trace it in its relations of thought, clear up its 
obscurities and leave a well defined conception of its greatness 
and of its reality must do it methodically. 

But doctrinal preaching has significance for rhetorical as 



THE DOCTRINAL TYPE 191 

well as structural form. I venture the suggestion that it de- 
mands and tends to the culture of three important qualities of 
rhetorical style in the preacher, precision, clearness and force. 
As regards clearness and precision the case is evident at once. 
The character and object of the sermon exact preeminently 
upon these qualities. There are sermons, indeed, of a rhetorical 
character that do not and need not and perhaps can not be 
marked by a scientific precision of statement. They are pre- 
cise enough suggestively to answer the purpose. They are 
clear without being intellectually exact. They are what we call 
suggestive sermons. Such sermons are, of course, desirable. 
The largest part of one's preaching may well be of this sort. It 
is quickening and helpful preaching. But a preacher may well 
aspire to do more and other than this. It is questionable 
whether it is well to preach nothing but rhetorically suggestive 
sermons. It is in fact a bad thing to overwork one's rhetoric. 
The understanding, the logical faculties, need cultivating for 
the work of the pulpit, and intellectual clearness and precision 
are the qualities that result. 

As regards vigor the case may not at first be quite so mani- 
fest. But it is possible that clearness and precision may be 
associated with force and tributary to it. If one states the 
truth clearly and discriminatingly, he is likely to state it 
strongly. Men without notable rhetorical power have often 
spoken with great effectiveness. There is cogency in clear- 
cut statements. The preaching of John Calvin in a way illus- 
trated this. If the truth grips the mental energies of a 
preacher, it is pretty sure to stir some emotional interest and 
this will give energy to one's utterance. One may, indeed, have 
a mental, and even an emotional interest in the truth of a sort, 
which may not involve a moral and religious interest in it, and 
consequently the expression may lack moral and religious 
cogency. But it is in general difficult to see how one is going 
to get the best ethical and religious interest in the truth and 



192 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

in its effects, without an emotional interest. And how is one 
going to get the best and most permanent emotional interest 
without an intellectual interest ? And when one has an ethical 
and religious interest which involves also an emotional and 
mental interest one is likely to get a combination of clear-cut, 
exact and cogent speech. It is this combination that is im- 
portant for intelligent minds. A strong character can not be 
interested in the truth without being intellectually interested. 
The non-masculine minds in the congregation should, of 
course, not be neglected. They have their claims on the 
preacher. But the masculine mind must be satisfied, and this 
is the mind that is interested in discussion. If such a mind is 
carried into a state of mental and emotional interest by a clear 
and vigorous discussion of a great truth, it will be the more 
likely to be carried on and over into moral and religious re- 
sponsiveness to it. 

Who can even read Canon Mozley's sermon on "The Re- 
versal of Human Judgment," without experiencing this com- 
bination of mental, emotional and moral excitement? Let one 
stop and analyze the effect and he will see how dependent the 
emotional and ethical impression is on the mental. And he 
will also find that all these impressions are dependent on qual- 
ities in the expression of the thought, which disclose the en- 
ergies of the preacher's personality, e. g., precision, clearness, 
terseness and energy of statement. The sermon that handles 
in appropriate rhetorical form a great truth will move strongly 
on, and will grow as it moves with ever-increasing moral 
momentum. 

3. Doctrinal preaching has relation to the question of tone. 
By tone in preaching, we generally mean harmony between its 
quality of thought or sentiment and its quality of form, or 
between the rhetorical quality of the text and the discussion. 
But in this type of sermon it may receive a more specific appli- 
cation. It may suggest harmony between the strong qualities 



THE DOCTRINAL TYPE 193 

of the subject matter and the qualities of the style in which it 
is presented. It may suggest a clear, strong, resonant, manly 
tone of utterance. The pulpit that has no such tone is, to use 
Cranmer's expression "the bell that has lost its clapper." It 
strikes no full, strong note. There are, indeed, minor notes in 
preaching, notes of gentleness, pathos and delicacy of senti- 
ment, appropriate to the more gracious and delicate forms of 
revelation, that need cultivation. Many of the truths and facts 
of the Gospel do not call for the masculine tone in the 
preacher. Preaching should be persuasive as well as strong. 
But the type of preaching in discussion must be masculine. 
It must be robust and virile in its intelligence and moral 
tonicity. To grapple with a great truth, to discuss it discrim- 
inately, to support it valiantly against all comers, or even to 
interpret it non-apologetically and non-polemically, to carry it 
up, in whatever manner, to the crown heights of victorious 
argument — this develops manly strength. This sort of preach- 
ing has rallied and developed strong men. Even an ordinary 
man will grow in the process. Doubtless the apologetic value 
of much of the argumentative preaching of the church has 
been overestimated. But as to its value to the preacher as 
mental gymnastics there can be no doubt. It may not always 
convince or persuade. This depends on its method and temper 
and tone. But it must at least command the mental respect of 
men. This has given us a virile Christianity in 
the pulpit. We are greatly indebted to the manly 
men who have pushed Christianity through their strong and 
virile minds, and have brought it out in bold strong forms. 
And the men who after them have undertaken to handle these 
truths have in like manner found themselves greatened in men- 
tal power and trained in mental skill. Think of Paul and 
Augustine, and Calvin and Edwards, and other great thinkers 
of the Church. Their work was not final, nor without grave 
defects. Much of it will not stand. But they developed the 



194 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

masculine side of Christianity. The preacher of our day 
should remember that Christianity must rally and find scope 
for the mental energies of men or in an age of light and knowl- 
edge it will be ignored or rejected. 

I direct attention to a work entitled "The Decay of Modern 
Preaching," by Prof. Mahaffey.* I do not agree with much 
that the author says, nor do I commend the somewhat dogmatic 
or over-confident and assertive manner of his utterances. The 
very title of the book is in my judgment a misnomer, and in- 
volves an ungrounded assumption. It is too sweeping. But 
some things said by the author, although they may be extreme 
statements, are at any rate worthy of serious consideration. 
He says:f "If in such a time (as the present) a preacher 
avoids dogma, he is not likely to produce any permanent ef- 
fect." Again ;J "The world has been reformed not by preach- 
ing morals, but by preaching dogma." 

"What converted the world was not the example of Christ's 
life, but the dogma of his death. His divinity and the atone- 
ment formed the real substance of early Christian preaching." 
These are doubtless extreme statements. What the aufhor 
says is not true in the formal sense of the earliest type of 
Christian preaching. His conception of dogma is defective, 
and what he says of dogma in the sense in which he under- 
stands it is not strictly true. But it must be acknowledged that 
there is a solid basis of truth in his estimate of the value for 
the pulpit of the formulated teachings of Christianity. It has 
been rightly claimed that it is the didactic quality that largely 
distinguishes Christianity from other religions. It is a re- 
ligion that can be taught, that can be preached. It is not pri- 
marily a teaching, but teaching is inseparable from it and dis- 
tinguishes it. It is the religion that has produced a church and 



*The Decay of Modern Preaching. 
fPage 79. 
JPage 116. 



THE DOCTRINAL TYPE 195 

a teaching ministry, and it has put an intelligent and intelligible 
and communicable content of religious thought into the hands 
of its ministers to be proclaimed to the intelligence as well as 
conscience and heart of the world. Other religions, of course, 
have their teachings and their teachers. But in the importance 
attaching to the truth and to the teachers of truth Christianity 
is far in advance of them. And it is this that differentiates 
pulpit from secular oratory to a large extent. All popular pub- 
lic speech has an expository basis. It aims to convince and it 
ultimates in persuasion. What distinguishes the speech of the 
Christian pulpit is the fact that its basis is more essentially 
didactic. Christianity is taught in the form of doctrine. In a 
time when all branches of knowledge are in process of de- 
velopment, the preacher should be able to grapple with a sub- 
ject matter that belongs substantively to his profession and 
should be able to handle it with skill and force. The preacher 
who does this will hold the respect of the community and will 
make Christianity respectable in the eyes of thinking men. 
"We are elevated by that which is above us," says Jean Paul 
Richter, referring to that type of preaching in which the great 
truths of religion are presented to men. 

IV. The Handling of the Doctrinal Sermon 
The decline of doctrinal preaching is not wholly due to a 
decline of interest and of faith in doctrinal theology, or to 
changes in theological belief, although this in part. It is due 
also to the difficulty of handling it successfully. There is a 
good deal of popular prejudice against it, due measurably per- 
haps to the uninteresting character of such preaching in times 
past, and the tastes of the people are not in line with it. The 
preacher therefore, although he would willingly do it, dreads 
to venture upon so difficult a task. Moreover it is not an easy 
sort of sermon to handle at any time and under the most fa- 
vorable conditions. 



196 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

It is not my purpose, however, to undertake to show how 
this difficult task may be made easy. That were impossible. 
But I would like to suggest some simple and more or less 
familiar considerations which the preacher in our day may 
well take into account in his effort to present doctrinally the 
great truths of Christianity to his people. And these consid- 
erations relate both to substance and form. 

1. With respect to its thought-material, the doctrinal ser- 
mon will be distinctively Christian. It is, indeed, admissible 
to present from the Christian pulpit the doctrines of so-called 
natural religion like the being of God and the immortality of 
the soul. There may in fact be an advantage in discussing 
from the basis of the testimony of the reason and moral and 
religious sense of men doctrines that find response even in our 
perverted human nature. It is important to know what may 
be said for these great truths from a basis that is independent 
of their Christian evidences and of the Christian forms in 
which they appear. But is it not on the whole better to under- 
take to show how Christianity, in its presentaion of these 
truths interprets all best witnessing of our nature and in fact 
completes and perfects both the doctrines and the evidences 
for them? This at least would seem to be the more appro- 
priate for the Christian pulpit. Is it not easier to show that 
Christianity is natural, than to show that nature is Christian? 
This, moreover, is in harmony with the spirit and method of 
our day. Christian thinkers do not attempt to draw a hard 
and fast line between natural and revealed religion. It seems 
better, therefore, for the pulpit to approach natural religion 
through Christianity. 

The teaching of the doctrinal sermon, if it is to be success- 
ful, will also be in harmony with what is best in the thinking 
of our time and with its assured results. Such preaching will 
be positive in its quality of thought. It will seek to find the 
important working truth that any statement of doctrine repre- 



THE DOCTRINAL TYPE 197 

sents. It will recognize what is good and true and of practical 
worth in the theology and the polity of different sects, will seek 
and lay stress upon points of agreement, and will look towards 
a possible basis of cooperation. The preacher who defends the 
theology and the polity of his church in the positive, affirm- 
ative, rather than in the polemical manner, will show himself 
to be in sympathy with the spirit of his age. The sectarian 
polemist is discredited. The preacher who is more of an ad- 
vocate than of an interpreter, who makes the impression that 
his chief aim is to make out his case, will part company with 
his congregation, if it be an intelligent Christian congregation. 

A reasonable adjustment to theological changes is especially 
needed in any type of successful doctrinal preaching in our 
day. In some Christian communions there has ceased to be 
a correspondence between modern preaching, and even be- 
tween the best type of preaching in these same communions, 
and the substance of the creeds to which they still nominally 
hold. When the theoretic and practical aspects of Christian 
theology are out of harmony it is always the practical aspect 
that ultimately carries the day. The theological thinking of 
our day is strongly influenced by the realities of life, and the 
doctrinal preaching that touches the realm of life will freely 
adjust itself to this habit of thought. The pulpit is summoned 
to appropriate the historic method in dealing with the person 
of Christ, and to a large extent it has heeded the summons. 
Following this method from the point of departure of his 
humanity and the perfection of his human character, the in- 
telligent preacher will build up his conception of Christ's 
unique personality. 

In the apologetic presentation of the alleged miraculous ele- 
ments in Christianity due allowance will be made for modern 
and more correct views of the relation of the realm of the nat- 
ural to the realm of the supernatural, for critical difficulties 
in the records of the miracles and for the difference between 



198 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

the New and Old Testament points of view in their general 
estimate of miracles. 

In the defense of supernatural Christianity in its broadest 
and most comprehensive aspects, the doctrinal preacher will 
not be afraid of critical, historical tests. He will give full 
weight to the importance of thorough critical and historical 
investigation into all the phenomena of what calls itself super- 
natural Christianity, as the best modern apologists, like Prof. 
Bruce, have done. Nor will he shrink from assigning to the 
sphere of nature what clearly belongs there any more than he 
will shrink from exalting to the sphere above nature what can 
render a no less worthy account of itself. 

In discussing eschatological questions doctrinal preaching 
will adjust itself to the spirit of moderation and reserve that 
marks the modern method of investigation of these problems, 
to our better knowledge of the significance of eschatological. 
Scriptures, to our more rational and realistic conceptions of 
punishment, and to the larger and more humanitarian sym- 
pathies and tastes that characterize our time, and that involve 
an intensified sense of the misery and bondage as well as guilt 
of human sin. But the preacher of strong ethical mind will 
wish to assure himself that these considerations are in har- 
mony with just and serious views of the guilt of sin and with 
the true moral welfare of men. 

The practical moral bearings of the facts and trutfis of 
Christianity, as contrasted with the results of the teachings of 
its opponents, will naturally be dealt with by the skillful Chris- 
tian apologist. The uplift that supernaturalism has given the 
world, as contrasted with the nervelessness of the crass nat- 
uralism and materialism of modern life, has immense apolo- 
getic value, whose significance the preacher cannot afford to 
minimize. What the supernaturalism of Christianity has 
wrought in all departments of thought and life and what might 
be the effect, or what might have been, upon the world, upon 



THE DOCTRINAL TYPE 199 

its art, upon its literature, especially upon its poetry and upon 
its religion, of a complete loss of faith in this higher element 
in Christianity — all this is of value to the preacher who would 
rally and support the faith of his people. 

The relation of Christianity to the broader view of the world, 
to those conceptions of an illimitable and vastly flexible spirit- 
ual universe, that are the heritage of our age, is an aspect of 
modern apology which no preacher can afford to ignore. In 
the presence of such a universe and with it as the native coun- 
try of the human spirit how petty and insignificant seems that 
view of human life that would regard it as a closed sphere, a 
little existence shut up within itself and with no touching- 
points with the vast illimitable of a supernatural sphere! 

2. As regards the homiletic form of the doctrinal sermon, 
it is clear first of all that no type of sermon demands more care 
in the choice of texts. A New Testament text is needed for a 
New Testament doctrine. The New Testament interprets the 
Old. The Old interprets the New, but not adequately. Read- 
ing New Testament doctrines into Old Testament Scriptures 
has been one of the serious defects of doctrinal preaching. The 
text may well contain explicitly the germ of the doctrine dis- 
cussed. There are types of didactic preaching, as already inti- 
mated, that may well use their texts suggestively. But this 
type of didactic discourse should rest upon the exact thought 
of the text or at least should not be deduced by any remote, 
inferential process. It is one of the homiletic sins of this type 
of preaching that it has abused texts by using them without 
a legitimate basis for the doctrine discussed. 

The introduction will naturally be explanatory, or will give 
itself to the task of relating text to theme or of bringing text 
and context up into manifest connection with the theme and so 
justifying it. If it starts with a general thought or from some 
phase of the general subject, it will naturally run into and 
through the text in reaching the theme. 



200 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

It is presupposed that the preacher will follow the deductive 
method. In his investigation and preparation he may have fol- 
lowed the inductive method. But he must reverse this in the 
pulpit. One cannot spend time to reproduce his process of 
investigation in the pulpit. He deals with results and his 
process is rather the unfolding than the infolding process. The 
theme, therefore, will be a statement of the subject in hand 
and whether in propositional or in rhetorical form will depend 
upon the method of the discussion. 

The plan of the sermon consists of the arguments that sup- 
port the thesis. The chief logical interest is the weight and 
cogency of the arguments. The chief rhetorical interest is 
the order of their presentation. No type of sermon demands 
such clearness and precision of statement and such orderly 
arrangement. 

The development will depend upon the character of the 
topics or upon the method of argument. It may be abstract or 
concrete according to the method pursued in the presentation 
of proofs. If one looks for rhetorical effectiveness in his dis- 
cussion, his development will be concrete and illustrative and 
so the more persuasive if not the more convincing. It Is not 
the habit of preachers in our day to handle abstract topics in 
processes of argument. 

The conclusion will naturally recapitulate, and will then deal 
with the ethical enforcement of the truth of the discussion, 
which will come in the form of inferences, ending perhaps with 
appeal. 

Thus the object of the doctrinal sermon gives us the scope 
of the demand. The object will be first to state and interpret 
the doctrine, assuming, as one must, that the preacher will 
generally follow the deductive method. Secondly, to present 
the evidences of its truth, by whatever method of proof. These 
methods of proof will necessarily vary with the character of 
the doctrine presented, with the character of the audience, 



THE DOCTRINAL TYPE 201 

and with the method of handling the sermon. Thirdly, to il- 
lustrate it. Fourthly, to enforce it, i. e., to inculcate those 
practical duties and interests that are involved in the ethical 
aspects of the truth in hand. First, a clear apprehension and 
clear statement as to what the doctrine is. Hence explanation 
and definition. Then it can be the more successfully argued. 
But by illustration in the process of argument, it can be the 
more persuasively presented, and successfully established. In 
all this the object sought is not merely an intellectual but a 
moral interest in the subject. With this advantage, it can be 
the more effectively enforced. Here then we have three chief 
interests. First an expository interest, which appears in the 
introduction and theme; secondly, a dialectical interest, which 
appears in the processes of the discussion; thirdly, an ethical 
interest, which appears prominently in the conclusion. The 
rhetorical attractiveness of the discourse is limited to no par- 
ticular part of it and is always an instrument for successful 
transmission. This is not a program. Every preacher will have 
his own method and every modification in homiletic habits will 
affect the style of doctrinal discussion. But the considerations 
suggested at least present the main points of the homiletic 
problem, whatever the method of its realization. 



CHAPTER III 
THE ETHICAL TYPE 

I. The Conception of Ethical Preaching 
All preaching is in the broad sense ultimately ethical in so 
far at least as it aims at the production of character and the 
regulation of conduct by influencing the will to the choice of 
moral ends or ideals. But the term is used here in a more 
specific sense. In this specific sense ethical preaching is the 
exposition, inculcation and practical application to character 
and conduct of moral ideals of duty and of virtue. As thus 
defined it is a distinctive type of preaching. Just how it 
differs from the types of preaching already discussed is ap- 
parent at once. Both of them may have ethical substance and 
an ultimate ethical aim. Expository preaching, e. g., from the 
epistle of James would necessarily be ethical in its content and 
aim. But the ethical sermon is not limited to Biblical material. 
It has wider range. Some Christian doctrines are essentially 
and preeminently ethical in their subject matter. They are 
doctrinal as related to the content of revelation and to the 
content of Christian thought involved in their interpretation ; 
but ethical as related to practical realization, in character and 
conduct. For example, the doctrine of Faith, Repentance, and 
Conversion. A doctrinal sermon on either of these subjects 
would be ethical in substance and aim. In fact all doctrine has 
its ethical aspects, and there can be no doctrinal presentation 
of the proper sort without ethical aim. But the doctrinal ser- 
mon is not ethical in the sense of our definition. The distinc- 
tion between Christian dogmatics and Christian ethics defines 



THE ETHICAL TYPE 203 

the difference. Dogmatics deals with the Godward side of 
truth, Ethics with the manward side. The former deals with 
the objectively-given truths of revelation, which have become 
subjects of human reflection, the latter with the duties involved 
in the application of these truths and the virtues realized in the 
fulfillment of these duties. Thus doctrinal preaching lays 
the foundation for ethical preaching. How can one sucess- 
fully discuss Christian duties and virtues without some 
understanding of the fundamental truths on which they 
rest? 

We may differentiate ethical from what is commonly called 
practical preaching. All ethical preaching is practical, but not 
all practical preaching is ethical in the closer sense of the term. 
Practical preaching aims at the production of practical results 
in the most comprehensive sense, religious as well as moral. 
Any kind of sermon, expository or doctrinal, that is so shaped 
as to produce practical results of any kind, whether in thought, 
in conviction or in action, is a practical sermon. A persuasive 
sermon that aims without much exposition or didactic dis- 
cussion, at the practical results of persuasion, is preeminently 
a practical sermon. The ethical sermon, however, aims at a 
distinctively and a specifically ethical result. The practical ser- 
mon may attempt to secure faith or to promote a receptive 
attitude of soul with respect to the grace of God. But the 
ethical sermon, of the more distinctive sort, will aim to secure 
those virtues that belong to faith and will inculcate the duties 
that are realized in such virtues. "Add to your faith virtue" 
is an ethical injunction. The practical sermon may aim at its 
result by influencing the emotions as for example the evan- 
gelistic or the parenetic sermon does. But the ethical sermon 
will aim at its results by influencing the conscience primarily 
or preeminently. The one may deal with the promises or com- 
forts or admonitions of the Gospel, the other with the demands 
of the Gospel and with the obligations that are set over against 



204 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

these demands. In a word the one may deal with the privileges 
the other with the duties that are presented by the Gospel. 

Ethical preaching, moreover, may be differentiated from 
what has been known as revival preaching. In its ultimate in- 
tent and scope, revival preaching is, of course, ethical, for it 
has refernce to righteous character and conduct and, there- 
fore, aims at reaching the conscience and will. But it differs 
in the following particulars. Revival preaching seeks to re- 
fresh the spiritual life of the church, the life of renewed 
fellowship with Christ. On the other hand ethical preaching 
aims at the development of those Christian virtues that are the 
product of the spiritual life, justice, patience, humility, tem- 
perance, fidelity, covenant virtues perhaps especially. Revival 
preaching, like all preaching of the evangelistic type, aims also 
at the conversion of men, i. e., at the production of faith, re- 
pentance, and obedience to Christ, but ethical preaching aims 
at the realization of the fruits of all this in the imitation of 
Christ's example. Revival preaching looks at results in the 
totality of life, i. e., to religious as well as moral results and on 
a wide field. Ethical preaching looks at life in the details of 
its practical moral development, e. g., the development of 
specific virtues, and the discharge of specific duties. 

Ethical preaching may also differentiate itself from what 
was formerly called law-preaching, i. e., preaching of an 
ethico-evangelistic type, which was regarded as necessary prep- 
aration for revival work. To preach "the law" is to present 
its Godward and manward claims. The claims of law involve 
implicitly certain duties. These duties are realized in virtues. 
In the content of its conception ethics involves the notion of 
law. Natural or philosophical ethics involves the notion of 
law as related to the natural conscience; Hebrew ethics, law 
as revealed in the Hebrew religion; Christian ethics, law as 
revealed and realized in Christ. Law theistically and Chris- 
tianly conceived is God's will touching a man's disposition, 



THE ETHICAL TYPE 205 

purpose, action, character as related to Him and to his 
fellow men. That right disposition, purpose, action, 
character realized is virtue in its comprehensive 
conception. Realized distributively in the manifold re- 
lations of life, it produces the different forms of virtue, it 
develops the concrete qualities of a practical moral life. To 
preach law, therefore, is to preach ethically. Yet ethical 
preaching in the sense here intended is not the exact equivalent 
of law preaching. It differs as follows : Law-preaching was 
accustomed to accentuate the divine side, God's rights, God's 
claims, God's sanctions. Ethical preaching lays accent upon 
the human side mainly, what we owe, why we owe it, the re- 
sult of failure to discharge the obligation. In a word, note 
once more, it lays its stress upon our duties and upon the vir- 
tues that, in various forms, are developed in the discharge of 
the obligation. Law-preaching, moreover, has for its stress- 
point the claims of God in their unity and totality, i. e., the 
great, inclusive law of love, the root-principle of all moral law. 
Ethical preaching fixes attention upon specific duties or classes 
of duty and upon those virtues that spring out of and are 
inseparably associated with the great law or principle 
of love. 

I have lingered with these discriminations and distinctions, 
not for the purpose of multiplying points of differentiation, 
but for the purpose of fixing a limit to our conception of ethical 
preaching, nor yet for the purpose of unduly limiting it, but 
for the purpose of fixing specific attention upon it as a type of 
preaching, which rightly conceived is relatively new and highly 
important, and for the purpose, if may be, of conditioning its 
greater effectiveness. Certainly its effectiveness will be meas- 
urably conditioned by a definite and vigorous conception of it 
and of its possibilities as a type of preaching. But still further 
in the interest of effectiveness, let us advance our discussion 
a little. 



206 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

II. The Christian Quality of Ethical Preaching 

In some circles that are called evangelical, there is, or per- 
haps I should say has been, a prejudice against ethical preach- 
ing. It has been regarded as even antagonistic to evangelical 
preaching, and as such has been much criticised. This preju- 
dice has been based upon a totally wrong conception of it. It 
has been confounded with the deistic or rationalistic moraliz- 
ing of a former period, when morality was substituted for re- 
ligion, and ethics for theology, when the necessity and reality 
of revelation were denied and men's relations to their fellow 
men were divorced from their relations with God. This was 
the preaching of so-called "natural religion," based on natural- 
istic ethics, and was indeed in a measure antagonistic to the 
religion of redemption. In this sense it was opposed to evan- 
gelical preaching and it must be confessed it was relatively un- 
fruitful preaching. 

But let it be understood that the ethical preaching advocated 
in this discussion is distinctively Christian in its quality. It 
rests upon the revelation of God in Christ. Its basis is the 
grace that is revealed to us and the grace that is appropriated 
by us, a two fold basis, objective, as related to what God has 
done for us, subjective, as related to what we have done in 
the inward appropriation of God's work. 

Let us examine this two-fold basis and see what lies back 
of the ethics with which in the main the Christian pulpit must 
deal. 

I. Ethical preaching of the Christian type has for its ob- 
jective basis the law of God as related to the grace of God. 
The law that exacts obedience is the law of Christ, the law of 
God as revealed, interpreted and realized in Christ. 

It is first of all a law that is related to the forgiveness of 
sin, as revealed and proclaimed by Christ. An absolutely per- 
fect moral life from the Christian point of view, is practically, 
although not theoretically, unattainable here below. A moral 



THE ETHICAL TYPE 207 

law, therefore, that should exalt a perfect obedience, without 
association with some provision by which the defects of moral 
life may be overlooked and by which men may still be kept in 
favor with God, would be an impracticable law. It would be a 
law that could not be preached, with any expectation that it 
would ever be fully realized. How can one preach an absolute 
morality unless such morality be somehow available or realiz- 
able, or unless there be some provision found or disclosed by 
which moral defects may be cancelled in the process of its 
realization? In point of fact an absolute morality has prac- 
tically never been insisted upon. It is only presented as an 
ideal. The human race has never been under sheer law, a law 
unrelieved by any purpose or provision of grace, hidden or 
revealed. There has always been an element of grace in or 
behind all moral law. Paul shows that back of the old Jewish 
and antecedent Hebrew or patriarchal revelation there was a 
hidden purpose of grace. But this law of grace is revealed in 
its fullness only in Christ. Now this is the objective basis, or 
one of the elements of an objective basis for practical Chris- 
tian ethics. The Christian moral ideal, therefore, must be pre- 
sented in its relation to the grace of God. Otherwise it is not 
a Christian ideal at all and is a hopeless ideal. The obedience 
that is inculcated by the law of Christ and the virtues that are 
demanded by it are rendered practicable, are made realizable 
by the grace of God as revealed in Christ and that first of all 
proclaims the forgiveness of sin. No one can successfully 
preach a virtue that is practically beyond every man's reach. 
Such preaching would only evoke hostility, or would result in 
complete disheartenment. We take hold of the future hope- 
fully only as we see that our relation to the past has been 
adjusted. 

The Christian moral law is also a law that has been fully 
realized and exemplified in the personal character and life of 
Christ. This exemplification illustrates and in effect proclaims 



208 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

the possibility of its ultimate fulfillment by every human being 
who works in moral alliance with Christ. Christ's preaching 
is largely ethical, but it is all based on the assumed vital re- 
lation of ethical truth to his own person. It is his entire per- 
son, his entire complex self-revelation, and not simply his doc- 
trines or teachings, i. e., the revelation of his mind alone, that 
constitute the back-ground of all ethical preaching. This is the 
reason, largely at least, why Christ preached himself so con- 
stantly. He could not otherwise make his morality available. 
The peculiarity and it is a very striking, in fact a unique pe- 
culiarity, of Christian ethics is just this: It exacts nothing, 
the perfect exemplification of which has not, in its essence or 
principle, been found in the obedience of Christ's own life. 
The command is : "Be this, for this is what I am" ; "Do this, 
for I did it"; "This is my commandment that ye love one 
another, as I have loved you." And this is why it is a new 
commandment. It is new in its realization and exemplifica- 
tion. 

The Christian moral law is, moreover, a law that is related 
to the promise and to the gift of the Holy Spirit, the promise 
and the gift of moral power by which the spirit of loving obe- 
dience is secured and by which the actual obedience of life is 
developed. That is to say, the exactions of Christian ethics are 
offset not merely by the external revelation of a gracious pro- 
vision of reconciliation and by an external exemplification of 
its realization in Christ, but by a revealed provision through 
which the requisite ethical motives may become inwardly op- 
erative and personally effective. Nothing is demanded by God 
which He is not willing and able, by the power of his spirit 
working within, to aid in executing. This helpful provision 
is a revelation of the Holy Spirit as a working force in life. 
It is a part of Christianity as an objective revelation of God. 
And in Whitsuntide the coming of the Holy Spirit as a new 
power in moral life is commemorated by the Christian church. 



THE ETHICAL TYPE 209 

From what has already been said it is sufficiently evident 
that ethical preaching of the Christian type will always be 
grounded in the fundamental facts and truths of Christianity 
as the religion of grace and redemption. Success in it will 
ultimately depend on one's success in making these facts and 
truths of grace real to the mind and impressive to the heart and 
conscience. It will depend on what has preceded it and what 
lies under it. Only in so far as the pulpit is clear and forcible 
in its presentation of the facts and truths of grace, will it be 
successful in its presentation of the moral demands of Chris- 
tianity. And perhaps this may answer the question, which will 
naturally occur, as to the proportion of ethical preaching which 
may be expected. There can be no doubt that there is great 
need, and need of a great deal, of ethical preaching. 

But if one must make his preaching of grace do the work 
of preparation, and if success in ethical exposition and incul- 
cation will depend on foundations already laid, it follows that 
the preaching of ethics must be subordinate to the preaching 
of grace, and the ethical note must be subordinate to the evan- 
gelical note. The proclamation of Christianity as a revelation 
of redemptive grace must have precedence of the proclamation 
of it as a revelation of moral law. 

And what has already been said may furnish a general an- 
swer to the question as to how ethical preaching may be prac- 
tically and specifically adjusted to the preaching of grace. It 
is adjusted to it by being made dependent upon it. But an 
additional suggestion is pertinent. It is easily possible that 
into the most practical part of an ethical sermon there may be 
introduced a definite reference to the provision of God's grace 
as Christ. 

Bishop Brooks was very skillful, very Christian and very 
persuasive in bringing Christ, as an ethical ideal and source of 
moral power into immediate relation with the somewhat lofty 
and often difficult ethical themes discussed by him. This is 



210 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

one of the chief sources of the exceeding helpfulness of his 
preaching. He presents high ideals. This is one of the dis- 
tinguishing characteristics of his preaching. He was an ethical 
idealist of extraordinarily high degree. But he always brings 
Christ into practical relation with the ideals presented and he 
endeavors to leave the impression, and succeeds in doing it, 
that after all with Christ these are attainable ideals. 

The attention of the reader is directed to a Prayer Meeting 
Address by Henry Ward Beecher* in the year 1863 just be- 
fore his departure to Europe to advocate before the English 
people the cause of the American Union, in which he, in a very 
interesting and instructive manner refers to the place which 
Christ holds in his ethical preaching. 

2. But all Christian morality is the product of an inner life. 
The obedience demanded and the virtues to be realized are dis- 
tinctively Christian in quality. This inner root of Christian 
virtue is the subjective presuppositon of ethical preaching. It 
is the interpretation and inculcation of a living, a real inner 
virtue, and not a mechanical or heartless goodness. 

The obedience of Christian morality is first of all the obed- 
ince of love. There is, there can be, no obedience, no virtue, 
that can be called Christian, which is not rooted in love. Love 
is the life of it. To preach a heartless obedience, or a heartless 
virtue is not Christian preaching. It may be ethical, but it is 
not Christianly ethical. It is true that it may sometimes be 
necessary and even desirable to inculcate human duties and 
virtues from the point of view of the exaction of the natural 
conscience, i. e., from the motive of prudence or personal 
honor, or self-respect or social obligation, or a native sense of 
right and wrong that has been untrained in the school of 
Christ. All roads may lead to Christ. To inculcate for ex- 
ample the virtue of temperance, or of business honesty, from 
the motive of personal prudence may open into a larger view. 
♦Sermons 1860-1868 vol. I. page 447. 



THE ETHICAL TYPE 211 

But such preaching in connection with the worship of a Chris- 
tian congregation may well be exceptional. If one feels obliged 
to take men on their own ground it may well be along a line 
that will lead to the consideration of the higher Christian 
motives. But to deal only with the lower motives is not ethical 
preaching of the Christian sort at all. In the presence of a 
Christian congregation it is the wiser way to approach all moral 
subjects from the distinctively Christian point of departure. 
It is not the preacher's vocation to preach non-Christian ethics. 
Such preaching would impoverish the Christian pulpit, as it 
was impoverished in the eighteenth century. Morality must 
have a living root. Men need an underlying principle of 
morality that will disclose itself in all their relations with their 
fellow men. This needs emphasis in our day. It is needed 
especially in connection with the discussion of social subjects. 
It will be ultimately fruitless to discuss the duties of the dif- 
ferent social classes to each other, unless they can be made 
to see and feel and appropriate the truth that these duties rest 
on some comprehensive principle that must dominate the whole 
life. That principle is unselfish philanthropy, and it is 
grounded in religion. An earnest and vigorous presentation of 
the character and life of Christ is essential to the most success- 
ful ethical preaching. Any man who, like the late Bishop 
Brooks, gives his life to the work of presenting Christ in his 
practical working relation with men, who every Lord's day 
holds before their minds the significance of his character and 
life for their own character and lives, and who is able to im- 
press upon their hearts and consciences his wonderful inspiring 
power, is doing a great and needed work in the interest of the 
unification of the different contending classes and factions of 
human society. He will do far more than the pulpit dabbler 
in economic and social science. Not that one may undervalue 
the preacher's interest in these sciences. In the nature of the 
case, however, the man who deals so largely with the funda- 



212 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

mental principles of the Christian life, and whose field of ap- 
plied Christianity is so vast, can not have very great success 
in an effort to exhaust any one branch of social ethics. More- 
over it is not necessary. In order to deal successfully with 
Christianity as applied to the vexed industrial and social prob- 
lems of our day, it is not necessary for a preacher to have an 
exhaustive technical knowledge of the economic or social 
sciences. Knowledge enough he indeed will need to secure him 
against serious mistake in the practical application of questions 
in social Christian ethics. But beyond this he need not go. His 
chief sphere is the ethical, not the economic or sociological. 

The obedience of Christian morality is also the obedience of 
faith. It is an obedience, it is a morality that is worthily real- 
ized in and by faith. Faith is the initial point, it is the condition, 
the sine qua non, as love is the root, the life, the sub- 
stance of all Christian virtue. "In your faith supply in addi- 
tion virtue" (2 Pet. 1:5). The entire series of virtues starts 
from and is realized through faith. This is the New Testa- 
ment conception, and it is that of James as well as of Paul. 
Christian virtue, then, is as to its source religious virtue. The 
religious life is at the foundation of the moral life. The re- 
ceptive activity is back of the out-going and out-giving activity. 
And as there is no Christian ethics which is not at bottom re- 
ligious, so there is no ethical preaching of the Christian type 
which is not at bottom religious. Hence broadly and rightly 
conceived, there is no preaching that is more characteristically 
Christian than this. All preaching must, as already suggested, 
end in the ethical quality. The aim of Christianity is not 
reached till it is transumated into character and conduct. Nor 
is the aim of Christian preaching reached till by the power 
of Christian persuasion enforced by the spirit of Christ, it 
produces the virtues that Christianity demands. 

Since now all Christian moralities are grounded in the prin- 
ciples of love and faith, all ethical preaching, of the Christian 



THE ETHICAL TYPE 213 

type, must deal somehow with these principles. Somehow and 
somewhere the preacher must at last get back to the top-root 
of Christian morality. All this will save ethical preaching 
from the pettiness that attends the work of prescribing merely 
external and formal rules of conduct. Even Christian casu- 
istry, a branch of Christian ethics with which the preacher, but 
especially the pastor, might well be more familiar, is in this 
way rescued from triviality. It is necessarily ennobled by its 
relation to the fundamental principles of the Christian life. 

From the foregoing it follows that the success of ethical 
preaching, from the point of view of its subjective basis, will 
in the long run depend on one's success in getting this double 
root of Christian virtue fairly and fully before the minds of 
men and strongly impressed upon their hearts and consciences. 
One's ordinary preaching of the Gospel, which is but the proc- 
lamation and interpretation of the grace of God, as related to 
faith and love in the recipient thereof, will furnish a basis 
of preparation for ethical inculcation. 

But the question naturally arises how more specifically 
may ethical preaching be adjusted in the individual 
sermon to what lies behind it? How can it be 
adjusted to fundamental principles? It is pertinent to 
suggest that the conclusion of the sermon, which is 
the most practical part of it, may readily touch the bearings 
of the inner principles of the Christian moral life upon the 
subject discussed. This is in line not only with the demands 
of effective ethical preaching but of good homiletic science. It 
may easily be done in a simple, unconventional, practical way 
without theological terminology and without leaving the im- 
pression that it is dragged into the sermon in an external and 
formal manner. A skillful preacher, and every ethical preacher 
especially may well train himself in skillfulness as well as in 
moral earnestness, will do this in a free and effective manner. 
After having held up before a congregation a high Christian 



214 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

ideal of character and conduct, after having shown what it is, 
shown the need of it, and after having urged it upon men's 
acceptance, it is a sort of moral anticlimax for the preacher to 
fail to remind his hearers that all this is possible to the be- 
lieving, trusting, loving, obedient heart, and that the possession 
of right inward principles and motives makes all a not impos- 
sible task. "His commandments are not grevious," not only 
because they are his, but because men trust and love him, who 
has first loved us. "His yoke is easy and his burden light," 
not only because it is the yoke and the burden of him who has 
himself borne them, but because men willingly take them and 
bear them in his strength. All this at any rate must be intelli- 
gently presupposed by the preacher who would successfully 
accomplish his moral task. 

III. Methods of Ethical Preaching 
The question of method is quite as important here if not 
more so, as in other types of sermon, for it is no insignificant 
task for any man to undertake to bring men's hearts and con- 
sciences and wills into subjection to the Christian moral life.* 
Neither is it an insignificant task for any man to undertake to 
be a guide to his fellow servants in such a ministry. The 
writer can claim neither the experience nor the theoretic knowl- 
edge in this, as in other homiletic realms, that would make him 
competent for such service. Let us, however, venture upon a 
few suggestions, and such as are made will be recognized as in 
line with approved modern ethical methods. 

i. The analytic method is not uncommon, and may be made 
most effective. In discussing a public vice especially it becomes 
necessary to delve into, to analyze, and to hold attention 
to its sources. It is the historic method. It is a 
valuable method in the discussion of any individual vir- 

*See Dr. Gustav Schulze's "Uber moral predigten." page 10 ff. 



THE ETHICAL TYPE 215 

tue or vice, but especially those that are public. It discloses 
the moral conditions of social life and makes manifest the 
process by which the moral or immoral life of the community 
develops. We see it in its natural history. The preacher is 
thus the better able to point out and make manifest its social 
and moral significance and from this as a basis to discuss the 
more effectively its consequences and the remedies demanded. 
The value of thus disclosing the elements and the processes of 
a vice like intemperance is evident. Scientific investigators in- 
to this difficult problem find the need of such a method of 
inquiry. A sketch of the processes by which the public con- 
science is depraved, or by which class antagonism as between 
capitalists and their employees, is generated, or by which the 
character of a particular class in the community is developed, 
like that of the Pharisees in the time of Christ, or like the 
modern political boss in our American life, or by which indi- 
vidual character, good or bad, of any particular type is pro- 
duced, — this is a method by which an intelligent and skillful 
ethical analyst and interpreter may render an important public 
service. Modern ethical preachers are skillful in moral analy- 
sis. One might cite Canon Mozley, who in this particular, as 
in others, reminds us of Bishop Butler of the eighteenth cen- 
tury. In dealing with all forms of moral good or evil the first 
thing to do in fact is to understand it in its sources and in its 
nature. 

2. The method of contrast is a valuable one for the ethical 
preacher. It used to be said by our homiletic fathers that 
preaching to sinners was often a very effective way of preach- 
ing to saints and reversely. We thus reach them indirectly. The 
value of the Christian life is thus set before men by way of 
contrast. It is a process by which the Christian moral ideal is 
set before men, and by which they may test themselves. The 
test is not applied to them directly by another hand. It comes 
to them from across the border, from the country which they 



216 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

are accustomed to regard as foreign, but which they find more 
native to them than they thought. Because the test was not 
ostensibly designed for them, they may be the more ready to 
apply it to themselves. It is a phase of the positive method. 
Our fathers were in their generation in many ways wiser than 
the children of homiletic light in our own day. Modern preach- 
ing is often deficient in ethical skillfulness. Ordinary pastoral 
preaching which deals so largely with the duties and virtues, 
with the satisfactions and rewards of the Christian life, and 
which exalts the Christian ideal of character and conduct, is 
pretty sure to leave some salutary impression upon those in the 
congregation who do not profess and call themselves Chris- 
tians. The same principle holds good as regards any type of 
ethical preaching. The presentation of some duty to one class 
proves to be a most successful reminder of duties that belong 
to another class. The inculcation of a virtue furnishes a 
powerful admonition against the contrasted vice. It is a proc- 
ess that avoids all direct antagonism. It may be necessary in 
exceptional cases to make a direct attack on some one man in 
the congregation, or upon some one class of men represented in 
the congregation, but in general it is not the wiser or the more 
successful method. A preacher may sometimes touch and in- 
fluence the wealthy men of a congregation, who are the em- 
ployers of workmen, by going a long way around through 
other sections of the congregation in order to get at them and 
by advice which is ostensibly wholly unrelated to them. The 
seemingly irrelevent is often the most pertinent. 

3. The descriptive and dramatic method has proved most 
effective in moral discourse. Henry Ward Beecher was most 
skillful and most powerful in a species of semi-dramatic rep- 
resentation of moral processes and results. It was the de- 
scriptive style applied with great passion in the psychological 
and ethical realm. His "Lectures to Young Men," which are 
among the most brilliant and successful discourses he ever de- 



THE ETHICAL TYPE 217 

livered or published, although much too exuberant in rhetorical 
quality and too tropical in imagery for the literay tastes of our 
day, abound in this descriptive and dramatic style. In a most 
vividly concrete way they depict the processes and the rewards 
of vice and of virtue as well. In them are disclosed Mr. 
Beecher's Shakesperian gifts. Just here very largely was the 
secret of the power of the preaching about heaven and hell, 
which prevailed in former days. Of course, a reproduction of 
just that type of dramatic method would not avail in our day. 
It would be regarded as insincere, unreal and artificially over- 
wrought. But this scenic method in general, chastened by the 
modern severities of aesthetic taste, might be used most effec- 
tively in delineating the strictly natural outworkings of good 
and evil in the present life. The preacher who is skillful in 
making real to his hearers the present curse of sin and the 
present blessing of goodness, may well leave to the God and 
Father of all men the outcome thereof in a world of which he 
knows but little, 

4. Dignity of treatment is important in any method. It is 
itself a method. The so-called moral sermons of the eighteenth 
century, were objectionable on account of their pettiness. Sub- 
jects of small ethical import like a person's manners, or per- 
sonal habits, like the wearing of long hair, or like the occupa- 
tions of life, such as gardening or farming, were treated with 
great minuteness and prolixity of detail. The best way to treat 
small, relatively small, ethical subjects is to do it in connection 
with the discussion of some larger subject and in a seemingly 
subordinate and incidental way, thus reaching the hearer in- 
directly. Just here is preeminently the value of the expository 
method of preaching. One may thus touch upon relatively in- 
significant subjects without seeming to make too much of them. 
Thus small subjects get new meaning and importance from the 
larger and more comprehensive and more general circles of 
truth with which they are indirectly associated. They become 



218 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

especially weighty, as being brought into relation with funda- 
mental principles. And they are the more effectively handled 
by being touched briefly. 

5. A tone of manly persuasiveness is necessary in what- 
ever method. An offensive harshness will injure the effect of 
any sermon that would awaken the conscience and change the 
course of life. A preacher may use great plainness of speech. 
He may be severe in his moral earnestness. He may on oc- 
casian even evoke the thunders of moral wrath. But all moral 
severity should have a background of human kindliness and 
graciousness and unselfishness. The ethical preacher needs the 
angel of mercy to stand sentinel over his heart and his lips 
need the guardianship of wisdom and sobriety and philan- 
thropy. He who interprets and enforces the law of Christ will 
doubtless above all else need the grace of fidelity, but it is a 
fidelity that should be tempered with the grace of Christian 
sympathy and courtesy. It is the fidelity of a Christian gentle- 
man. 

IV. The Need of Ethical Preaching 
The example of our Lord may well suggest the vocation of 
every preacher in whatever period or nationality or communion 
to interpret and inculcate the moral claims of Christianity. 
They are claims that are always urgent and they appeal to the 
common intelligence and conscience — to the common humanity 
— of the race. Christ's preaching was largely ethical. It had 
indeed, for its back-ground his own personal revelation of God. 
It had a distinctly religious basis. It all centered in his re- 
ligion of grace and redemption, and it never strayed beyond its 
borders. But the fact that Christ was a preacher of morality 
should never be ignored or minimized. Christianity is, indeed, 
in its substance far more than "sublimated ethics," and Christ 
is far more than an ethical teacher and guide. But while 
Christianity is grounded in religion, it ultimates in moral 



THE ETHICAL TYPE 219 

character and moral life, and the ethical factor is of supreme 
significance. Christ's preaching is not only broadly but specifi- 
cally ethical. It deals with fundamental and wide-reaching 
principles, principles that lie at the basis of all worthy human 
character and conduct and are universally valid, but it does 
not lose itself in general principles. It applies them to de- 
terminate lines of conduct and to specific acts. The Sermon 
on the Mount, which is from beginning to end an ethical dis- 
course or a compendium of ethical expositions and inculca- 
tions, does not lose itself in generalities. It deals, indeed, with 
the broad features of the kingdom of God and with the funda- 
mental principles of righteous character and conduct in its sub- 
jects, but it applies these principles to the details of practical 
life. If Christ had given himself simply to the task of laying 
down ethical principles for the subjects of his kingdom, he 
would have appeared in the role of the ethical philosopher. 
But he adapted'his moral teachings to specific needs and obli- 
gations, as conditioned by the specific relations of his hearers. 
In this he showed himself to be the preacher and proved that 
he had the conscious vocation of the preacher. It is a funda- 
mental homiletic principle that preaching shall adapt itself to 
the present, specific needs of individual men and classes of 
men. Christ recognized this principle, and in this he is the 
preacher's example although he is far more than a homiletic 
model. There is doubtless a large field for ethical preaching 
of a somewhat general and comprehensive character. Charac- 
ter building, in a broad and inclusive sense, is a problem with 
which the modern pulpit in its theories of religious and ethical 
life deals more largely than the pulpit of other days. Such 
preaching will deal with general ethical principles, it will be 
positive and affirmative, rather than critical and negative; it 
will trust to the development of time for its results; it will 
deal with ethical exposition rather than with ethical inculca- 
tion, and in general it will move far from the realm of ethical 



220 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

polemics. Ethical preaching of this sort, as illustrated by such 
preachers as the late Canon James B. Mozley, is of the most 
fruitful and ennobling character. But the ethical preaching of 
our day cannot linger wholly in this broad field. There is 
urgent need in our time, and especially perhaps in this country, 
of a more specific and critical type of ethical preaching. The 
conditions of life demand it. There is need of more searching 
work with the conscience. The pulpit itself needs it, in the 
interest of its own virility and moral power in the community. 
Ethical preaching that is definite, critical, searching, is manly, 
straightforward preaching, and it should do much in securing 
the pulpit from a onesided intellectualism or didacticism on the 
one hand, and from an over-emotional or sentimental quality 
on the other hand. 

But the thing to be accentuated here is the practical moral 
needs of men in our day and especially in their associate lives. 
The vast field of social ethics is open to the pulpit as never be- 
fore. One shrinks from entering this field with his homiletic 
nostrum, or with his professional advice, and especially with 
his critical polemic against the evils of his day. For one runs 
the risk of seeming to look too exclusively at the dark side of 
life, of undervaluing the good that lingers and still reigns and 
of seeming to sanction a negative and belligerent attitude to- 
wards the community of which he is a part. But let us look 
fairly at the field and see straight and listen as we look to the 
summons that calls for the prophetic voice. 

Beginning with the church, what do we find here ? A living 
Christianity still, no doubt. Vast philanthrophy and enter- 
prising activity unlimited. But in much it is a Christianity that 
caricatures the religion of Christ. As represented by the 
church, the Christian life is notably defective with respect to 
ethical comprehensiveness. It is such in every age no doubt, 
for that which is complete is far away. But it is a defect that 
is exceptionally characteristic of the church life of our day. 



THE ETHICAL TYPE 221 

The active Christian virtues are many of them cultivated. 
Christian benevolence in an eminent degree. Perhaps the 
present surpasses all other periods in the scope of its benevo- 
lent activities. But it is a onesided development. The prin- 
ciple, the law of self-denial for others' sake, which is the very- 
heart of Christian benevolence, is not cultivated comprehen- 
sively. Many forms of selfishness, sometimes refined, but 
often gross and coarse, mar the symmetry of Christian char- 
acter and corrupt and cripple the life of the church. Selfish- 
ness in the form of self-assertion. The grace of humility is 
not carefully and delicately cultivated. It is an age when man 
is exalted. Our fathers exalted God, in his greatness, maj- 
esty, righteousness, and holiness. The littleness, the weakness, 
and sinfulness of men was proportionally accentuated. An 
erroneous because a onesided estimate of man no doubt it was. 
But the age has swung to the opposite extreme. And we need 
a type of ethical preaching that will recall the fact of human 
weakness, and perversity and guilt, that will lead men to see 
their littleness and meanness and sinfulness, and that will pro- 
mote the nurture of humility. 

Selfishness in the form of unreined ambition has invaded 
church life. The political spirit is not an unfamiliar mani- 
festation in the church, the spirit of intrigue, the spirit that 
seeks to accomplish desired ends by subtle indirection, by 
manipulating majorities in the deliberative assembly, rather 
than by open, free and manly Christian discussion; the spirit 
that would vote up or vote down by sheer numerical force 
some of the gravest questions that concern the interests of 
God's kingdom. In political life the wire-puller and the party 
boss sneer at debate and at the intelligent deliberations of the 
representative assembly, set at naught the opinions and inter- 
ests, the will and the suffrages of responsible citizens and seek 
to carry the most important questions of legislation, or meas- 
ures that are not worthy to be brought to the attention of any 



222 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

civilized legislative assembly, by a species of bulldozing, by 
"fixing" votes through caucus pressure, or by "trading," 
or by bribery. And something of this spirit the 
church has caught, not in its most corrupt and degraded and 
degrading forms, of course. But with too much truth it may 
be charged, as it has been charged, that some of our ecclesias- 
tical assemblies manipulate the suffrages of its members rather 
than carry their measures by the power of argument and per- 
suasion. And at times they have ceased to be deliberative as- 
semblies. Votes that are won by a species of caucus manipu- 
lation sometimes displace the suffrages of rational and respon- 
sible men. And all this in the name of Christ and in the name 
of the church and of the kingdom of God! Denominational 
rivalries in decadent rural communities perpetuate the un- 
economic folly and the moral disgrace of ecclesiastical schism 
that is to a considerable extent responsible for the decreasing 
power of religion and for its failure to meet the higher needs 
of men and to promote the general moral welfare of society. 
Metropolitan churches compete for financial leadership, for 
numerical supremacy, for social prestige, and preachers are 
sometimes crushed by the exactions of this ecclesiastical 
ambition or are demoralized by its tax upon the sensation- 
alism that supports and perpetuates the unholy competition. 
The commercial spirit is in the churches. Men of unsavory 
repute in business life have leadership in their councils, and 
institutional prosperity is often substituted for vital religious 
welfare. 

Selfishness in little things that compromises the grace of 
Christian fidelity, and that issues in thoughtless neglect or in 
deliberate repudiation of the claims of the Christian covenant 
is well-nigh universal in Protestant Christendom. Selfish- 
ness in the form of self-indulgence is wide spread and most 
baleful in its power of demoralization and corruption. It is, 
indeed, very common and it is very easy to give money for 



THE ETHICAL TYPE 223 

objects of charity and benevolence. People have more to 
give, indefinitely more than our fathers had, and the habit 
of giving is general. But it is also increasingly common for 
members of Christ's church to pamper themselves. The old- 
fashioned virtue of economy, the companion virtue of thrift, 
which was the pride of our fathers, is no longer widely cul- 
tivated. There is lavish freedom and unlimited range in 
expenditure for worldly indulgences, which cut into the spirit- 
ual life of the church. There is a vast amount of fashionable 
conventionalism, of social insincerity, of ostentatious vanity 
and of vulgar display even in ecclesiastical circles among the 
American people. "The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye 
and the vain glory of life" abound in our day as of old. Peo- 
ple are not content to live simply. "High thinking and plain 
living" were the characteristic virtues of our fathers. We 
have lost much of their homely manhood. Despite our liberal- 
ity in giving, despite our increasing practical as well as theo- 
retic interest in social and industrial questions, there is still 
in the churches of the land a vast amount of indifference to 
the needs, the wrongs and the sufferings of the unblessed 
classes. It is easier to give money than to go out of one's 
way to look up and personally to interest one's self in those 
whose chief need is human sympathy and who might be 
reached and blessed thereby. 

Looking again at domestic life, do we not find scope for 
ethical preaching of most searching sort? The Lord's day is 
not what it once was in the life of the family. One can not 
very well magnify or defend many aspects of the old Puritan 
Sabbath. Its observance was wrong in theory and in many 
respects in practice. Too much emphasis was put uoon the 
external religious sanctions of the day, if it be permissible to 
speak of any sanction as religious which is external. Too 
little stress was laid upon its moral and in general its prac- 
tical as well as inwardly religious significance and value. 



224 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

But with all its defects it was a day of power in the life of 
the family. The secularizing of the day, lack of respect for 
its moral and religious meaning, loss of its opportunities, ne- 
glect of its institutions and failure relatively to differentiate 
it from other days in the habits of domestic life have had 
very serious results in the homes of the people. One thing 
is sure ; it would be a most beneficent thing if the pulpits of 
this country were to direct attention to and to advocate more 
fully and more forcibly the immense practical value of the 
Lord's day for family life. There is, it is to be feared, a 
general neglect of family worship, and consequent loss of 
that staying and sanctifying power that is necessary to pro- 
tect the modern household against the corruptions of life. 
Religious teaching, nurture, training, discipline, is at dis- 
count in the domestic circle. We find a measurable loss of 
a sense of the domestic vocation. Those household virtues 
that are necessary to fit one for the larger and more res- 
ponsible place in civic and ecclesiastical life are not ade- 
quately cultivated. Extravagance in family life abounds. 
Lax ideas of marriage and of divorce threaten the very ex- 
istence of the family. All this suggests lines of ethical teach- 
ing, and admonition relative to family life that are urgently 
demanded. 

Looking at commercial life, what do we see? Not, as has 
been claimed, an essentially corrupt system, in accordance 
with which the business of the world is conducted. Corrupt 
business men cannot successfully plead that they are the prod- 
uct of a corrupt system. They are the product of a cor- 
rupt commercial greed and ambition, not of essentially vicious 
commercial principles. The principle of competition is not 
vicious. The social foundations are not wholly awry. Methods 
are corrupt, procedure is corrupt only because men are cor- 
rupt. There are thousands of business men who keep their 
commercial integrity — who are not conscious of working un- 



THE ETHICAL TYPE 225 

der a vicious system, and who know that they are not tempted 
simply by being brought into antagonism with competition. 
What we behold is a habit of commercial recklessness, wide- 
reaching in its wreckage of character and reputation, that is 
the product of human greed. We see the looting of banks 
and of business corporations, the ruin of railroad stocks, in 
men's insane self-indulgence and in their ambition to store 
colossal private fortunes; the dishonest handling of trust 
moneys, product of the gambling spirit of commercial spec- 
ulation, by men who have the nerve to attempt to vindicate 
their diversion of other men's properties from legitimate 
uses, as a species of philanthropy. We see the ambitions 
of wealthy men to control the industries and the markets; 
we see them over-reaching, circumventing, crowding, crush- 
ing, ruining their competitors, without an apparent twinge 
of conscience, without an emotion of human pity in their 
breasts or a blush upon their faces. And these are men too, 
that hold places of trust and honor in the churches of Christ, 
men, some of them clean in their private morals, but without 
a commercial or a social conscience, and others of them no- 
torious for their moral lasciviousness and general corruption 
of personal character. We see reckless stock gambling, the 
bribery of legislatures, attempted bribery even of the judici- 
ary, the retaining of prominent lawyers by public utility cor- 
porations to keep them within the technical limits of the law, 
and to save them in their ravage of other men's property, 
from the penitentiary. We witness the paying of tribute by 
wealthy corporations to political bosses in compensation for 
legislative privileges, which are knocked off at auction by 
men who themselves may owe their legislative offices to the 
commercialized political influence of these same corrupt boss 
leaders of men; we see unblushing bribery in elections by 
these conscienceless political charlatans, and by corporations 
that are financially interested in the choice of candidates to 



226 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

public office. We see the practical bribery of Congress by the 
protected industries of the country in behalf of increase, or 
"stand pat" defense of schedules of duty ; we see a cynical 
indifference on the part of wealthy lordlings and world- 
mongers with respect to the unblessed classes, and in reac- 
tion we see these classes themselves deteriorating in man- 
hood, perverting the standards of industry, combining, and 
recklessly plotting against public order and all unwittingly 
against their own higher interests. Has the pulpit of the 
country no vocation? Has it no voice, as against such cor- 
ruptions, corruptions that endanger the very existence of 
the republic? 

If we look at political life more specifically, and not wholly 
in its commercial aspects, we find the rule of party that 
often discredits honest patriotism, that with hypocritical pre- 
tence and with the swagger of loud-mouthed bluster prates 
of its Americanism, that agitates in the national legislative 
assemblies with jingo recklessness unto the disturbance of 
international harmony, that exalts notoriously corrupt men 
into positions of public trust and holds them there, that dis- 
credits the patriotism of high-minded citizens, who insist 
upon the right of honest voting; when men of independent 
character are nominated by unpartisan citizenship, it cries out ; 
"We cannot afford to have the precedent established that a 
handful of citizens can go ahead and make nominations re- 
gardless of the nominating machinery of our party." And 
thus it comes about that the party standard is elevated above 
the Christian standard of citizenship and political morality. 
We find political parties carried into power upon the basis of 
promises issued in political platforms that are shamelessly 
disregarded in subsequent political action, the fulfillment of 
which in fact was never honestly intended. And intelligent 
and honest Christian citizens are expected to stand this and 
they do stand it, and despite the rapid development of in- 



THE ETHICAL TYPE 227 

dependent citizenship, there are too few still to withstand it. 
We find the lobby and we find notorious lobbyists elevated to 
important places of public trust. The boss and the bulldozer 
and the briber have been let loose and party allegiance has 
turned the government away from some of the most cher- 
ished traditions of our fathers. 

And then if we look at the newspaper press, we see in 
many of its representatives, a reflection of the lower tastes 
of the populace, and unblushing defiance of the higher senti- 
ments and higher morality of the civilized portion of the 
community. We see more than a facile tolerance of evils 
that should be nameless and hidden. Phases of life that 
all decent people should agree to relegate into silence and 
obscurity are paraded in a dirty species of literature that 
masquerades under the guise of what calls itself realism. 
Private vices are exploited by filthy realism and are pictured 
to the imagination in a low type of pictorial or descriptive 
art unto the degradation of the moral tastes and sentiments 
and conviction of youths. And this unblushing indecency 
calls itself enterprising journalism! We see here a greed 
for coarse sensation, a taste for low, coarse, grotesque drollery, 
misnamed humor, a relish for the insinuations of evil that are 
often worse than open slander, and we find here a shameless 
invasion of the sanctities of the home and of the rights of 
personal manhood and womanhood. 

These are some of the objective points towards which ethi- 
cal preaching may well be judiciously directed. It may seem 
a dark picture that has been given. It is a picture which, 
even if only approximately correct, may easily suggest the 
question whether the moral stamina of the American people 
be not already to a large extent undermined, and its moral 
fibre already in process of very distinct deterioration. The 
question has already been raised and to some, indeed to 
many, it has seemed to be true of no inconsiderable section 



228 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

of the American people. But, of course, there is a better 
side that no broad-minded, large-hearted, generous-spirited 
preacher will permit himself to ignore or forget. People are 
often not so bad as they seem, and are often better in their 
individual than in their associate lives. Reckless violence is 
better than dry rot. There is rallying and staying power 
still left. Looking at the Christian section of the nation, with 
all its defects, there is ground for hope. A genuine Chris- 
tianity, the Christianity of Christ, is still represented by the 
church and the influence thereof is still very great. The 
preacher who would come to his fellow men with a message 
of hope will have no sympathy with that wholesale denun- 
ciation of the church which comes from a class of men that 
have lost their footing and who deny that the church is 
entitled to the claim to represent the kingdom of God on 
earth. 

What has been said is simply to indicate that the depart- 
ment of social ethics furnishes an abundant sphere for the 
work of the pulpit on the critical side. There is no need, 
however, that the evils sketched be the object of direct po- 
lemic attack. The question of method is an independent 
question. It may be possible to present the positive side and 
to bring these evils to the light and to place them in judgment 
before it. The value of the ethical polemic will depend on 
many things, on its tone, its skill, its form, relative infre- 
quence, upon who handles it, and when and where and how. 
The young preacher has perhaps, hardly the requisite ob- 
servation and experience of the moral evils of his time and 
may lack the trained skill requisite to the most effective work 
in this line. It is not, perhaps, advisable that, in the early 
period of his ministry he should preach to any very consid- 
erable extent upon these social evils. At least it may well be 
only an occasional task. It is easily overdone. There is a 
large field for ethical preaching that lies outside the ethical 



THE ETHICAL TYPE 229 

polemic. The inculcation of Christian duties and virtues as 
related to individual life and to the more limited sphere of as- 
sociate life may well be a large part of one's ordinary preach- 
ing. Attack on social evils that appear on the wider fields 
of life may well be reserved for exceptional occasions, and 
when attempted it should be done with a merciless thorough- 
ness, and with full command of facts. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE EVANGELISTIC TYPE 

I. The Conception of Evangelistic Preaching 
It is the presentation of the Gospel with reference to the 
immediate, definite result of winning men to the allegiance of 
Christ. It presupposes some knowledge of Christ on the 
part of the hearer, and is, therefore, to be distinguished from 
missionary preaching. All forms of "mission preaching," 
whose object is to convince men of the truth of Christianity 
and of the reasonableness of Christ's claim to their allegiance 
and to persuade them to accept such allegiance may be re- 
garded, as it is by German preachers, as belonging in a com- 
prehensive sense to the evangelistic type of preaching. It is 
at once apologetic and evangelistic, apologetic in its imme- 
diate method, evangelistic in its ultimate aim. English 
preachers sometimes classify apologetic with evangelistic 
preaching. Its object being to convince the mind, and by 
such convincing to lay the foundation for such persuasion 
as will win men in personal allegiance to Christ, it "should 
be penetrated with an evangelistic spirit."' In discussing 
evangelistic preaching Dr. R. W. Dale deals to a considerable 
extent with methods of apology.* In the United States, how- 
ever, it is generally regarded as belonging distinctively to 
the persuasive type of preaching, whose object is the con- 
quest of the will, rather than to the apologetic type, whose 
aim is primarily to convince the mind. It is assumed that 
the work of convincing has already been accomplished. But 

*Nine Lectures on Preaching, Lecture VII. Evangelistic Preach- 
ing pp. 182-282. 



THE EVANGELISTIC TYPE 231 

it is a specific kind of persuasive preaching. In the compre- 
hensive sense all preaching, as has already been frequently 
intimated, must be persuasive. No apologetic preaching 
can be effective which is not persuasive. Paracletic preach- 
ing, as dealing with the promises and comfort of the Gospel 
is nothing if not persuasive. All ethical preaching, which 
aims to bring the will into subjection to the Christian law of 
righteousness, is in its very conception persuasive. All re- 
vival preaching, which would promote religious awakening, 
seeking thus to refresh the spiritual and moral life of the 
church, as well as the conversion of men, must be charac- 
teristically persuasive. But the evangelistic type of preaching 
is persuasive in the specific sense that it aims at the im- 
mediate result of winning men in faith and obedience to the 
personal acceptance of Christ as their redeemer and master. 
To summarize then; Defined as to its subject matter, it is the 
presentation of the Gospel message of grace. It deals with 
the very heart of Christianity. It may have great range and 
variety of content, but it all centres in the great message. 
This is doubtless the original substance of Christian preach- 
ing. It is nearest the original apostolic type of preaching 
and nearest the original message of our Lord. Defined as to 
its object, it is to win men to the discipleship of faith, repen- 
tances, obedience and love by the power of persuasive speech 
or by the presentation of appropriate motives, with such ef- 
fectiveness as to persuade them to yield to the grace and au- 
thority of Christ. 

II. The Need of Pastoral Evangelism 
Whether the church in our day needs the evangelist who is 
not a pastor may be an open question. There is doubtless a 
place for the professional evangelist. But his value will de- 
pend on the kind of evangelist he is. It is not, however, my 
purpose to discuss this question. The sure thing is, and it 



232 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

can be no open question, that we do need the pastor who is 
also an evangelist, or at least who can preach evangelistically. 
Every man who enters the Christian ministry should train 
himself to preach thus. It is a serious mistake for a minister 
to spend time in pursuits that are of secondary importance to 
him as a minister and to neglect his message. It is his first 
duty to learn to handle the Gospel of Christ effectively. It 
is not creditable to him that his church should be obliged to 
look to a special class of men for this type of service. The 
churches have to a large extent lost faith in the ability of 
educated ministers to do the work of the evangelist. In a 
general, wide-reaching religious movement in a community, 
the services of the right sort of professional evangelist are 
without doubt of great value. But this should never super- 
sede the evangelism of ordinary pastoral service. Upon the 
question before us, I suggest the following considerations. 

I. The demand for pastoral evangelism is involved in 
the claims of Christianity upon men, Christ presents himself 
as an object to be received in an act of personal allegiance. 
The beginning of practical, working relations with Christ is 
an act of faith. No man makes a beginning with the claims 
of the Gospel upon his allegiance without a willing response 
to it. All other demands presuppose this. All preaching 
that presents the weighty truths of Christianity with reference 
to edification or moral incentive assumes a discipieship al- 
ready secured by the presentation in some way of the claims 
of the Gospel upon personal allegiance. The first thing, not 
the last thing, then, for a minister to do for those who have 
not entered upon Christian discipieship is to present Christ 
to them as an object of personal faith and allegiance. This, 
of course, may be done, and done effectively in connection 
with the processes of Christian nurture. But so long as there 
are those in any congregation, who have grown to maturity 
without having entered upon the life of Christian discipieship, 



THE EVANGELISTIC TYPE 233 

so long will there be a demand for some form of the evange- 
listic type of preaching. 

2. The pastoral commission involves the evangelistic com- 
mission. Edification is not the sole pastoral function. The 
original apostle was not a permanent pastor. He was an 
evangelist. The earliest preaching was evangelistic, not pas- 
toral. The original preacher's commission was that of the 
evangelist, not of the pastor. Christ chose and commis- 
sioned evangelists, not pastors. The pastor was a later pro- 
duct of church life. A special class of men was needed for 
the work of spreading Christianity. A special class may be 
needed in our day, and those who enter upon such a work 
must vindicate their calling and prove their credentials by 
their training, their consecration, their wisdom, their unself- 
ish devotion, and by their success in their work. But the 
modern pastor should not fail to represent, in some form 
and in some measure, the evangelism of the apostle. The 
apostle is a fisher of men, and if the modern pastoral 
preacher represents in any worthy material sense what is 
left of the evangelistic phase of the apostolic commission, 
he can not cease to be a fisher of men. The flock of God 
must be fed, but those who are not of the Good Shepherd's 
fold must also be won. Building up and gathering in should 
go on together, and the gathering in can not be effected 
wholly by the slow processes of Christian nurture. The 
church receives those whom Christ receives, and who re- 
ceive him, and those who receive him are not all nurtured 
into his grace. Many, indeed, who enter the church from 
the catechetical class are brought to the conscious reception 
of Christ by the presentation of his claims evangelistically. 
More of the subjects of Christian nurture might enter the 
church with a more thorough consecration to Christ and to 
his church, if these claims were more definitely and urgently 
presented. But what shall we say of those who have long 



234 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

been under the power of evil habit and who need the presen- 
tation of stirring motives? This class is increasing even 
while the work of religious education is enlarging its scope. 
The pulpit will lose power with the church and with the com- 
munity if it is untrue to its evangelistic commission. 

3. The needs of the ministry are involved here. We talk 
about the homiletic mind. It should be understood that this 
involves the evangelistic mind. The cultivation of the evan- 
gelistic mind, as a part of one's general homiletic culture, 
would have a beneficial effect in various ways upon one's 
ministry. It would aid one in discriminating as to the prac- 
tical importance of the themes he presents from the pulpit. 
The evangelistic mind is a source of evangelistic divination. 
It is the evangelistic preacher who will deal with the very 
heart of the Gospel. One may indeed not always know what 
the heart of the Gospel is. One may fancy he has it, when he 
has it not. He may cultivate the "Gospel of Going On" in- 
stead of the Gospel of staying with Christ. But the true evan- 
gelistic mind involves a condition of insight into the Gospel, 
and whatever one's apprehensions or misapprehensions as to 
the Gospel, it is this that he wants. No by-play for this man. 
He will have, he must have, a Gospel of promise and hope 
and help that can be preached and must be preached. The 
pastor who cultivates the evangelistic habit of mind is pretty 
sure to find himself led toward an evangelistic centre and he 
will not be content to play upon the outskirts. It has often 
been this man with an evangelistic mind that has rediscovered 
the Gospel for the pulpit. Luther had it, and he was an evan- 
gelistic preacher, such as of necessity, and it was he who redis- 
covered the Gospel of redemption. When theology becomes 
petrified and can be no longer successfully preached, who is 
it that comes to the front with a new way of stating old truths, 
or even with a new theology that can be preached? It is the 
evangelistic preacher. Take the case of Jonathan Edwards. 



THE EVANGELISTIC TYPE 235 

He made the theology of his day more preachable and he 
preached it with amazing power. Take the case of the Ten- 
nants in the Presbyterian church. These men were "new 
light" men. They were antagonized by the men of pastoral 
routine and of orthodox conformity. But they preached with 
new power, because they on the whole got a little nearer to 
the heart of the Gospel. Take the case of President Finney. 
He too was a "new light" man. He had new views of human 
accountability and of every man's possibilities with the Gos- 
pel, and he had great power in reaching the consciences and 
wills of men. It is not the true evangelistic mind that loses 
its grip of the Gospel of redemption for needy men, and that 
identifies Christianity with a species of "sublimated ethics." 
It is this too that fosters positiveness in preaching. It 
is the positive tone that lifts any type of preaching into 
its best. In the early and mid-period of his ministry, 
the evangelistic preaching of Henry Ward Beecher was 
positive and incisive, and one fancies that this was tribu- 
tary to positiveness in his preaching in general. His didactic 
and ethical preaching was of a higher order than it was sub- 
sequently. Different types of preaching influence each other. 
Didactic preaching influences ethical preaching and evangelis- 
tic preaching influences them both. The evangelistic mind is 
preeminently positive. 

It will elevate the spiritual tone of one's preaching. It will 
even affect its rhetorical quality in the best sense of the word. 
It is, as of necessity, definite in its aim and is fervid and sym- 
pathetic in its spirit. How can a habit of definiteness and of 
earnestness and of sympathetic fervor in one type of preach- 
ing fail to appear in other types? And how shall it fail to 
make the preacher more powerful rhetorically? How shall 
it fail to uplift the entire work of preaching and the conduct 
of public worship as well? 

And finally it will be felt in the entire work of one's minis- 



236 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

try. It recognizes the duty of a minister to win men to 
Christ. If one's preaching is wholly unevangelistic, the en- 
tire work of the parish is likely to correspond. The con- 
verse is also true. And this spirit of the herald, of the fisher 
of men, will lift the spiritual life of the whole church and will 
quicken all its missionary activities. It will thus supplement 
the educative work of the church in the community. The 
church has to deal in our day with an increasingly large num- 
ber of people, who can be reached and won only by efforts 
whose inspiration is the very heart of the Gospel, the very 
heart of an apostolic ministry, the passion to rescue men. 



III. Evangelistic Culture 

In evangelistic, as in all other types of preaching, special 
gifts will doubtless win special success. Some preachers are 
unusually gifted with that power by which they easily find 
their way to the hearts, consciences and wills of their hearers. 
The great evangelist is doubtless a special product and a 
special gift of and to the church. Such a one is pretty sure 
to find his way into the work of the professional evangelist, 
or into a pastoral ministry that will be a perpetual evangelism. 
Undue stress is sometimes laid upon these special gifts. Dr. 
R. W. Dale regretfully regarded himself as deficient in evan- 
gelistic gifts and in some things he has said leaves the im- 
pression that but little can be done without a special evange- 
listic endowment.* This is rather discouraging to the preacher 
of ordinary equipment, who would be a fisher of men. Every 
preacher should cultivate, and may cultivate with a measure 
of success, such gifts as he may have. Any man who may 
be a preacher at all may achieve something in this field. 

Let us consider some of the qualities that are important in 
this type of preaching and that may and should be cultivated. 



*Yale Lectures ; Lecture VII. Page 182. 



THE EVANGELISTIC TYPE 237 

1. Culture of the feelings and affections is a necessary 
condition of evangelistic power. In modern religious peda- 
gogy this receives a good deal of attention. It may well 
receive stronger emphasis in pastoral culture. Culture of 
the feelings and affections is just as important as mental and 
moral culture, and will show its results. The ministerial 
calling is prolific of agencies for such culture. There is a 
Christian literature that expresses the strongest and purest 
emotions of the human heart and the preacher has access 
to it as none other has or can have. Christian poetry, and 
especially the religious poetry of the Bible, enriches the emo- 
tional and affectional life. There are also the ordinary means 
of personal religious nurture, prayer, meditation, social wor- 
ship and Christian intercourse and fellowship. These means 
of grace, which are the preachers' special possession in a 
sort, deepen and enrich the life of religious sentiment and 
feeling, or should and will if worthily used. There is also 
contact with the sinful, sorrowful, suffering world. There is 
nothing like familiarity with the tragedy and pathos of hu- 
man life to make one human. Men differ in their emotional 
susceptibilities. There are different types of feeling, as there 
are different mental types, and different ways of manifesting 
feeling. Emotion need not be mercurial in order to be real. 
But the true preacher, and preeminently the evangelistic 
preacher, always has some capacity, whatever the type or 
method of it, of being emotionally wrought upon by those 
to whom he speaks. Successful evangelistic preaching 
presupposes this. Consider the object of the evangelistic 
sermon. It is to reach the will and secure action. To accom- 
plish this it is necessary, indeed, to convince the mind, or 
to be able to assume that it is already convinced, and to win 
the conscience to the approval of the claims of duty and to 
condemnation of its neglect or violation. But more. It is 
necessary to make the object, that is presented as an object 



238 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

of choice, desirable. This can only be done by awakening 
an emotional interest in it. There are many ways of stirring 
such an interest and of awakening a sense of the desirable- 
ness of the object presented. But one thing is of supreme im- 
portance. It is that the preacher himself should be moved 
by the object he advocates. No right feeling can be awak- 
ened, and no right desire quickened in the hearer, unless the 
preacher himself have the feeling corresponding to that 
which he would awaken. Capacity for such feeling can be 
indefinitely cultivated. 

2. Cultivation of the imagination is another requisite. 
It is not easy to make invisible things real. In the largest 
and best sense they are, indeed, native to us, and every man 
has some capacity for the ideal. But it is badly overlaid by 
the sensuous life. The invisible can not be made real with- 
out the use of the imagination. The images of things visible 
represent things that are invisible, and such representative 
images move the emotions. A minister's calling furnishes 
abundant material for the culture of the imagination. He 
deals with the ideal side of human life, and with the lofty 
ideal realities that lie beyond. The literature that is tribu- 
tary to his professional life in general is especially tribu- 
tary to the culture of the imagination. Biblical truth is 
presented largely through the forms of the imagination. The 
Biblical method of teaching is the poetic method. The diction 
of our Lord is poetic, not scientific. Life also furnishes a 
school for the training of the imagination. The preacher 
deals with the dramatic aspects of human life, with the 
tragedy of sin and suffering, with the defeats of life, and with 
its joys and triumphs. Over against his ideal life stands 
life's reality. All this is a powerful stimulant to the imagina- 
tion. The preacher is an idealist; he is also a realist. And 
his familiarity with actual life, not less than with ideal life 
necessitates the culture of the imagination. In this prosaic 



THE EVANGELISTIC TYPE 239 

world of actuality this ideal realist may be a moving 
force. 

3. The culture of moral earnestness is of central signifi- 
cance. Note some of its elements. Sincerity is the heart of 
it. Moral earnestness can not be successfully simulated. 
The speech of the insincere man will bewray him, and this 
will be fatal to any man who undertakes to preach evange- 
listically. The self-seeker can not win men. A positive, en- 
terprising, aspiring man is exposed to the temptation to self- 
seeking. One must live on guard and cultivate an unselfish 
temper of mind. Nothing, except positive, open vice, will 
so soon destroy the influence of a preacher of the Gospel 
as any disclosure of personal selfishness. No one ever 
doubted the entire sincerity of Mr. Dwight L. Moody, and 
here was one of the sources of his power. The professional 
evangelist especially is exposed to the temptation to self- 
seeking, and particularly the temptation to self-aggrandize- 
ment. 

Elevation and cheerfulness of spirit is another element. 
One who lives in his emotions, who is earnest to win men, 
but especially one who is earnest to win success in his efforts, 
is likely to be subject to revulsions of feeling. If he does 
not succeed according to his expectations he may easily fall 
into the habit of complaining. Professional evangelists are 
greaty exposed to this temptation. They complain of the 
deadness of the church, with much reason doubtless, and 
they have a very lively sense of human depravity. But the 
true fisher of men will live on guard against a censorious 
spirit and a bitter tongue, for they will cripple his power. No 
man needs so cheerful a soul as the one who is bent on 
winning men to Christ. The discouragements are very 
great. One will need all the hopefulness and kindliness and 
sweetness of temper he can command. It is all necessary to 
his moral earnestness. 



240 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

Force of will is another element. Men must be made to 
feel the strength of the preacher's purpose. There is a 
mighty contagion in a consecrated resolution. Of course, 
this is something that can not be paraded. One must be 
adroit as well as resolute. But one's purpose must be felt. 
He who would succeed in winning men must learn to handle 
men. This ability may be cultivated by any man who has the 
gift of a leader. One must be able to rally men. He must 
concentrate his force upon the one point towards which he 
aims and drive for it with all possible energy. Men will feel 
the power of such a man, and he will win their respect and con- 
fidence. This power may be cultivated. No successful evan- 
gelistic preacher has ever failed to cultivate it. Power to 
grip a congregation and to wrestle with men in his effort 
to win them to Christ was one of Mr. Moody's great evan- 
gelistic gifts. It was a superb illustration of moral force. 

4. Culture of a strong and positive faith is a condition 
of evangelistic power. The specific truths to which faith 
especially attaches itself will necessarily vary in different pe- 
riods. The phases of truth with which, in the changing con- 
ditions of Christian thought and experience, the evangelistic 
preacher deals, will vary accordingly. In the Reformation and 
post-Reformation periods the central truth was Justification 
by Faith only. In the English Wesleyan revival, it was Re- 
generation and the Witness of the Spirit. In American revi- 
vals of the mid period of the last century the freedom of the 
will and personal responsibility in the work of conversion 
received special attention. In line with this movement in 
our day the ethical element in faith, by virtue of which men 
surrender themselves to Christ as the master of life and 
enter into fellowship with his spirit and his work, is made 
prominent. To receive the inspiration of Christ and to fol- 
low his example are the prominent features of the Christian 
life that are kept before us. And Christ is exalted as the 



THE EVANGELISTIC TYPE 241 

ideal of all complete human character as well as the power 
by which it is realized in men. 

But the background of all successful evangelistic preaching 
has at all times been a recognition in some form of the two 
great facts of sin and redemption. They have been con- 
ceived variously. Different aspects of these realities have 
been accentuated at different times. But the facts them- 
selves have in some form been at the basis of this type of 
preaching in every period of Christian history. 

The fact of sin is the presupposition of the fact of redemp- 
tion. Any denial of sin involves a denial of redemption. If 
the word sin has lost its meaning, there is no meaning left 
in the word redemption. The reality of the one stands or 
falls with the reality of the other. Whether it be the guilt 
of sin, or its bondage, or its delusion, or its meanness, or its 
misery that is made prominent, it has always been appre- 
hended as sin, as an abnormal and perverse manifestation 
of personal freedom, and it has been thus proclaimed with 
great force of conviction in every period of most effective 
evangelistic preaching. It is not necessary, nor is it possible, 
for us to linger with it and dwell upon it and belabor it, as 
our fathers did. One need not speculate much about its 
genesis, nor debate much about its nature. But one must 
deal frankly and fairly with the fact and when the fact is 
pushed upon men's attention, it should be done with such ef- 
fectiveness that they will see it and feel it. It is not so much 
a question of quantity in the presentation as of force of con- 
viction and force of statement. The quality of this sort of 
preaching is of far more importance than its quantity. 

Redemption also as a fact accomplished in Christ is the 
very heart of evangelistic preaching. It is a redemption ob- 
jectively complete in its provisions as being God's work; a 
redemption sincerely offered to all men and for the applica- 
tion of which abundantly helpful provision has been made. 



242 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

All this also presupposes faith in the capacity of men for a 
religious life and the possibility that any man may put away 
his sin and enter that life. And this again presupposes strong 
confidence in the ethical and religious significance of that act 
of faith by which men enter the Christian life, as involving 
emancipation from the guilt and power of sin and as con- 
taining in germ the possibilities of all Christian virtue. With 
respect to these things the evangelistic preacher may not 
waver, the fact of sin, the fact of redemption, the possibilities 
of all men in Christ, and the saving significance and availing- 
ness of faith. Men may differ about many things even here 
within this circle of facts and truths. But if they hold hard 
by the main lines, their differences need not compromise their 
message. Theological and philosophical difficulties will pre- 
sent themselves to all men who think. The young preacher 
of our day is quite likely to fear that these difficulties may un- 
fit him for this type of preaching. And he may find those 
who will endeavor to persuade him that he is right in this 
fear and that his only hope is in accepting their view of the 
facts, or their theories about them. But it would be an al- 
most devilish device that should succeed in persuading a sin- 
cere and earnest young preacher, who holds to the main 
lines of the evangelical faith, that unless he accept some one's 
theology that calls itself orthodox he will fail as an evange- 
listic preacher. Men's views on many phases of an evangeli- 
cal theology have changed and the evangelistic nerve has 
not been cut, and it may not be cut if they are still further 
changed. No earnest man, who knows that, despite the dog- 
matic dictum of the theological partizan, he is in a large and 
generous sense an evangelical man, holding to the heart of 
the Gospel, should ever allow himself to be moved from his 
evangelistic purpose by any theological difficulties or by rela- 
tively insignificant variations from the current theology of 
his time. The preacher who knows that men are sinners, that 



THE EVANGELISTIC TYPE 243 

they need redemption, that they have it freely and sincerely 
offered, that men may and should accept it whenever clearly 
made known to them, and that whenever accepted in an act 
of self surrender, they enter upon the beginning of a re- 
deemed life that contains the promise and potency of all forms 
of holy virtue — the man who knows this or who strongly be- 
lieves it, whatever his opinions with reference to contested 
and doubtful secondary points of belief, is the man who has 
a Gospel and he can preach it with effectiveness, if otherwise 
he have the fitness. And it is greatly to be hoped that in a 
time of unsettlement no young preacher will be put to confu- 
sion or turned aside by his mental perplexities. It is not 
necessary for one to be omniscient in order to be evangeli- 
cal, or in order to preach the Gospel of grace to needy men. 
But it is necessary to believe that one has a Gospel to preach 
and that men need it here and now. There is no evidence 
that Paul thought himself omniscient. He was not wholly 
certain about eschatological questions, and was manifestly 
fallible in one point of eschatology, about which he was 
quite confident, the immediate coming of our Lord. But it 
is generally conceded that he was fairly orthodox and that 
he preached his Gospel with a fair measure of success. 

5. Culture of the religious life. Bad men have some- 
times preached effectively. So long as they were believed 
to be good men, they have won men to Christ. One may for 
a time conceal his moral unsoundness, and no barrier of 
doubt in the minds of others may impede the transmission of 
truth through him. But it is an altogether exceptional thing 
that a man of immoral and even of unspiritual character, ever 
succeeds in the preaching of the Gospel. He has neither the 
capacity to apprehend it aright, nor the motive to present 
it unselfishly. It is the man of spiritual power that preaches 
effectively. The spirit of God works through the consecrated 
energies of the human soul. A fresh religious experience 



244 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

is sure to impart new moral and spiritual power in the pro- 
clamation of the Gospel. The case of Dr. Chalmers is often 
cited in illustration of this. But this is only one amid un- 
numbered instances. 

6. Culture of the evangelistic spirit, to which reference 
has already been made, a spirit namely that is consonant with 
the spirit of the Gospel and with the object for which it is 
presented. This is more than a spirit of earnest devotion. Many 
a man of deep and earnest piety has failed with respect to the 
right evangelistic spirit. Wisdom as well as piety is in de- 
mand. Contact with men for the purpose of knowing them 
and of finding ways to reach them is necessary to the cul- 
ture of the evangelistic spirit. Men are known individually. 
Every heart has its own door. Tact in handling men comes 
of contact; capacity to touch men skillfully is product of 
touching them practically. Preliminary observation of and 
contact and acquaintance with successful evangelistic preach- 
ers will be of value to any man who sets his heart upon the 
winning of men. It is a misfortune for any man to begin his 
pastorate without such preparatory observation and acquain- 
tance. The tone of one's religious services may be made 
tributary to evangelistic effort. One may not expect to 
preach evangelistically with success whose conduct of public 
worship lacks the evangelistic or missionary quality. One's 
devotional meetings may become a sphere of preliminary 
training. Brief, direct, earnest prayer and speech further the 
evangelistic interest. One who has fallen into the habit of 
long, dull, monotonous circuitous prayer and address will 
find it hard to work out of them when he comes to put forth 
direct effort to persuade men. 

But the culture of the evangelistic spirit involves pre- 
eminently a sense of one's own spiritual needs. This condi- 
tions the receptive posture of the soul to the grace of God. 
All men of evangelistic power have known what Paul meant 



THE EVANGELISTIC TYPE 245 

when he said, "When I am weak then I am strong." And 
this includes strong conviction of the needs of other men. 
No preacher can ever afford to forget that he deals with 
those who are needy, whether they know it or not, needy in 
sin and needy in infirmity. It is a strong sense of this need 
that awakens a great yearning of heart to be helpful in bring- 
ing them to Christ. 

7. Culture of such homiletic qualities as are adapted to 
this type of preaching. The cultivation of sound judgment, 
moral intensity and power of concrete representation and 
correct taste with reference to the emotional impressions 
sought, is an important consideration. It is not an easy task 
to handle a sermon that aims at persuasion. It is easier to 
teach than to persuade. Persuasion attaches itself to that 
part of human nature that is most intractable and unreliable, 
the emotions and the will. It also deals with a class of truths 
and with moral aims that exact closely upon the conscience, 
and it has to concern itself with those who may be indifferent 
or hostile to the claims which the preacher presents, and per- 
haps indifferent or hostile to the preacher himself. The tone 
and quality of the themes themselves also with which the 
evangelistic preacher deals are very exacting upon his powers 
of persuasion. These themes are the great realities of the re- 
ligion of redemption. Sometimes they speak as by their own 
power. There are times in the experience of men when very 
humble and ineffective agencies may readily transmit these 
truths and disclose their power. But in general it requires 
rare skill to greaten what is great and to intensify what is 
intense, and this is what the evangelistic preacher must do. 
He must greaten and intensify the claims of the Gospel in 
the apprehension and in the feelings and convictions of men. 
These difficulties intensify homiletic exaction. The text is 
important. It may well be an impressive text and as closely 
adapted as possible to the nature and object of the sermon. 



246 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

Harmony of tone is especially desirable. Whatever the char- 
acter of the text, whether command or claim, promise, cheer- 
ful incentive, or solemn admonition and appeal, the right 
sort of sermon will catch its tone as well as thought and 
make it effective. 

The introduction will be specially solicitous to win and 
fix attention and interest at the outset. Whatever will make 
the thought or sentiment or feeling of the text impressive at 
the start, is a good introduction and whatever makes the oc- 
casion, or the theme or the aim of the sermon, or the solici- 
tude of the preacher for his hearers impressive will be good 
introductory material. The theme, whether causal or final, 
i. e., whether it give the subject or instead the object of the 
sermon, will be stated with exceptional simplicity, directness, 
definiteness, clearness and brevity. Such statement promotes 
forcefulness and impressiveness. 

The outline and discussion demand cumulative impression. 
If one aims at a decisive result, he naturally aims at a rhe- 
torical climax. Anticlimax is fatal to decisive effects. The 
conclusion is naturally shorter, more compact and concen- 
trated in form than that of the didactic sermon. The last 
word will be especially weighty and impressive, and 
if done naturally and simply and sincerely may well be de- 
tached by a slight pause and given with deliberation and 
emphasis. 

The culture of the rhetorical qualities of naturalness and 
directness is especially important in evangelistic preaching. 
For even naturalness may be cultivated. These qualities 
have characterized the style of the great evangelistic preach- 
ers, especially directness. This is the style of Mr. Spurgeon 
and of Mr. Moody, and earlier of Prof. Finney. The style of 
Whitefield would not be natural in our own day, but it was 
natural for him, was familiar to his hearers, and in harmony 
with the rhetorical culture and taste of his age. There is 



THE EVANGELISTIC TYPE 247 

nothing in the discourses of these great evangelists that in- 
sures their perpetuity. But they express what is real to them 
and they bear the evidence of reality in their directness and 
pungency. A religious awakening is likely to bring a re- 
vival of naturalness, simplicity, directness, compactness and 
cogency of speech. The very form partakes of the new, 
fresh life that penetrates it. 

Culture of good perspective, of balance of parts, and econ- 
omy of force, is another important interest. One needs to 
know not only what to say, but how much and when and 
where, and how to stop. The adequate evangelistic sermon 
carries no surplus material. It eliminates padding. It wastes 
no words. It is dangerous to say too much. He who speaks 
to the feelings of his hearers may easily cause a revulsion. A 
little over-doing spoils the impression. Just here, directness 
of aim becomes the more manifestly important. The 
preacher who aims straight will keep within bounds. 

IV. Evangelistic Motives 
The most important study in evangelistic preaching is 
perhaps the study of motive, or a study of the various 
methods by which the will is moved. Skill in the use of 
motive is skill in the art of persuasion. Motive is what 
moves. What moves men varies. It varies not only with 
individual men and classes of men at any given period, but 
it varies with the changing conditions of time. Considera- 
tions that move men in one age fail to move them in the 
new conditions and habits of another age. The field of mo- 
tive enlarges as men's conceptions of the Christian life en- 
large, as their conceptions of Christianity enlarge, and as 
the Gospel takes broader and more varied relations with the 
lives of men in the changes of time. The age in which we 
live is one of vast complexity. The experiences of men are 
conditioned by this complexity. There is a greater variety 



248 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

in religious experience than was once the case. There is larger 
range in the types of religious experience. There are more 
ways recognized and made available of bringing men to 
Christ. The parable of the hidden treasure and that of the 
merchantman suggest and were designed to suggest variety 
in the ways by which men enter the kingdom of God. They 
thus suggest the varieties of motive to which men are sub- 
ject. Dr. R. W. Dale in his Yale Lectures* has touched upon 
this subject in an interesting manner and has directed atten- 
tion to some of the evangelistic motives that are especially 
available in our day. I shall touch a portion of the ground 
he has traversed, but only a portion. Let us undertake to 
classify some of the motives that are available in the evan- 
gelism of our day. 

\ i. There is what may be called the intellectual motive. 
Some men are much more easily reached than others by the 
presentation of the truth convincingly to the mind, par- 
ticularly by the presentation of Christ as the one who an- 
swers certain intellectual needs and meets their intellectual 
difficulties. To convince the mind is the surest way to reach 
the hearts, consciences and wills of some men. Convince- 
ment is the larger part of persuasion. Most men know 
Christ as the source and inspiration of life. But there are 
those for whom Christ as "the truth" has supreme attrac- 
tion. It is important for the preacher to know that Christ 
may be preached evangelistically as "the truth," the truth 
of God, the truth of man, the truth of life. Christianity is the 
great and the only adequate religious interpreter of the 
being and character of God, of the exaltation and worth of 
humanity and of the inner meaning of the world and of life. 
The Christian world-view is the only one that can satisfy not 
only the hearts and consciences but the higher intelligence 
of thoughtful, serious-minded men. It answers to that sense 



♦Nine Lectures on Preaching, page 204 ff. 



THE EVANGELISTIC TYPE 249 

of moral value which is not only an ethical instinct but an 
intellectual conception. The Gospel that bears the name of 
John was the early response of Christianity to the intellec- 
tual needs of men in the realm of religion. Not only in 
substance but in form it was peculiarly fitted to meet the 
needs of all those who in that early age sought a deeper 
knowledge of God and of his Christ. In many of its funda- 
mental conceptions it is adapted to the mental needs of men 
in every age, and is far more significant for the intellectual 
as well as spiritual necessities of the church than many of 
the critics know. There have been a few modern evangelists, 
notably the late Professor Drummond, who have presented 
Christ with great success to intellectual and cultivated men. 
The older preachers always sought to make a strong, clear 
mental impression before they could hope to make the 
requisite ethical and emotional impression. They presented 
the claims of Christianity to the mind. They plied the in- 
tellectual motive. And just here apologetic preaching be- 
comes evangelistic preaching, or enters into close alliance 
with it. It may become more and more necessary to make 
evangelistic preaching apologetic in a sort, especially, as in 
the preaching of Prof. Drummond, in effort to win educated 
young men. As mental life in the realm of religion develops 
and as men come under the power of modern culture, it will 
be necessary to appeal to the higher intelligence, to the 
higher mental wants and to urge those motives that reach the 
will through the mind. 

2. The aesthetic motive. That the realm of religion lies 
contiguous to the realm of aesthetics is an altogether familiar 
fact. No modern religious teacher has more clearly con- 
ceived the relation, or more attractively interpreted it, than 
Frederick W. Robertson. That the realm of the ethical and 
of the aesthetic also are closely allied has been made apparent 
by modern philosophical writers. It is the teaching of 



250 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

Ulrici* that the primal sense of moral obligation is both 
ethical and aesthetic. There lingers in the soul of every hu- 
man being an ideal of what one ought to be and the con- 
scious or unconscious striving for self-realization is but the 
striving for the realization of this ideal, however dimly or 
however clearly defined it may be. This notion of the 
"ought"' then, which involves the notion of a striving of the 
soul for the realization of a moral goal, is both ethical and 
aesthetic. A right character is not only the realization of 
moral rectitude but of moral beauty. It is easy to see that 
the sense of an ideal goodness is both ethical and aesthetic. 
There are those who have a strong sense of the attractions 
of goodness. They carry about with them an ideal of what 
God intended them to be. This ideal of manhood lingers 
with them and haunts them. Conscience condemns them 
for failure to realize the standard that is set for them. Their 
lives are, therefore, lives of self-dissatisfaction. It is largely 
this that distinguishes men of high and of low type of pos- 
sible manhood. A Christian civilization nurtures this sense 
of ideal goodness. It is thus that men of the finer mould, 
who are subject to such elevating influences, are the more 
easily reached by the presentation of Christ as the embodi- 
ment of the loftiest ideal of human goodness. It is the 
moral beauty of the character and life of Christ that will 
draw such men to him. There is perhaps a broader field to- 
day for the use of such a motive especially among educated 
young men and women, who have been the subjects of early 
Christian nurture, than in former periods. 

3. The paracletic motive. The sorrows, disappointments, 
hardships and dissatisfactions of life prepare many for the 
reception of Christ as the one who brings comfort, strength 
and peace. There are in our day increasingly large num- 
bers of those who carry great burdens in life, who are 

*Gott und der Meusch. Zweiter Theil. Einletung III Seite 68 ff. 



THE EVANGELISTIC TYPE 251 

wearied and dissatisfied with life and who seriously enter- 
tain the question whether it is "worth living." Doubtless the 
external conditions of men in all civilized and prosperous 
countries is constantly bettering. It is doubtless true that 
the "rich are growing richer," but there is no basis for the 
cry, which has become a species of sentimental cant, that 
the "poor are growing poorer." Doubtless they know their 
poverty and feel it and are discontented with it as never be- 
fore, but the very dissatisfaction is an accompaniment of 
bettered conditions. The dissatisfactions of life are increas- 
ing. While the outer conditions of life are bettering, the 
inner life is more restless and burdened, even among those 
whose lives are otherwise full of comfort. It is said to be a 
matter of observation that the sufferings and hardships of 
life do not to any large extent bring men to Christ, that they 
harden rather than soften them and make them responsive 
to the call of God's grace and compassion. The attitude of 
the broken-down section of society towards religion seems to 
confirm this. But it is possible that the comforting Christ 
is not brought to such men as he might be and should be, 
and it is certainly true that in the case of a great many the 
sufferings of life condition a certain religious susceptibility 
to the influences of a higher world, and it were a very serious 
mistake for a shepherd of souls to assume that the victim 
of life's hardships can not to any considerable extent be led 
into a longing for higher forms of good, for peace with God 
and for the assurance of heavenly blessedness. 

4. The emotional motive. There are those who may be 
reached by an appeal to fear. It has proved itself to be a 
powerful motive, and it still may be effective. It is a legiti- 
mate motive and was freely used by our Lord himself. Men 
need to be warned of the results of sin, not to their characters 
alone, but to their happiness. Christ appealed to a love of 
the higher well-being. It is said that men in our day are 



252 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

not responsive to this motive. Doubtless they are not 
responsive to it as it was once presented. But there never 
was a time when the consequences of sin could be more 
powerfully and effectively presented than now, and it is idle 
to suppose that human nature has so radically changed and 
that men have so wholly lost all sense of well-being that they 
cannot be made to dread sin and its consequences when they 
are properly presented to them. The preacher need not 
deal with visions of the future wrath of God against sin in 
order to lead men to dread it. He has only to deal with its 
present consequences ; he has only to deal with the facts, the 
awful facts of life. No imaginative picture of future wrath 
can equal the appalling facts of present ruin. 

Yet in itself fear is not a moral motive. There is no more 
virtue in dreading suffering of soul than there is in dreading 
suffering of body. No one is ever morally changed by the 
influence of fear alone. The value of it as a motive is that 
it arrests for a time the wrong action of the soul and gives op- 
portunity for other motives to take hold. But it is these 
other motives, operating unconsciously or half-unconsciously 
it may be, that do the work. A man can never be simply 
frightened away from sin into a life of holy virtue. A love 
for the soul's true good itself must first spring up in the 
heart because it is recognized as such. One may be startled 
in his bad way so as to be made afraid of God. But no 
one is ever a changed man morally simply by being made afraid 
of God. One may be terrified at the consequences of sin, 
but if he does not come to hate it, he will not turn from it. 
Fear, however, may give faith and love a chance to become 
operative in the soul. Dread of results in suffering may at 
last lead one to hate the sin that causes the suffering, that 
is hateful in itself, and hateful to God. But he who 
still tolerates sin in his heart and is only afraid of its 
consequences will still adventure in his bad way, and 



THE EVANGELISTIC TYPE 253 

will dare the worst, notwithstanding his dread. Such a man 
is not a changed man, nor will fear alone ever change 
him. 

But there are those who are less responsive to the motive 
of fear than to motives of an opposite character. They may- 
be moved by an appeal to the heart. There are those who 
always, even from early years, seem to live under a sort 
of constraint from the love of Christ or are at special periods 
peculiarly responsive to it. The pathos of his sorrow and of 
his suffering love has been a mighty power in the evangelism 
of the church. Periods of religious awakening have attested 
its power as a motive. The mystical preachers of the church 
of Rome, St. Bernard, Berthold, Francis of Assisi, attest it. 
Witness also the pietistic preachers of the Protestant 
churches. Recall the Moravian Zinsendorf, whose motto 
was, "I have but one passion, it is He and He only." The 
sufferings of the Redeemer have been a prominent theme in 
Moravian preaching and have demonstrated their power to 
nurture the feelings and affections. We may not forget that 
the great Schliermacher was in early years a pupil in schools 
of Moravian piety, where the suffering love of Christ was 
powerfully delineated, and that this nurture shaped his 
future life. We may not forget that Frederick W. Robertson 
and John Henry Newman were educated in the pietistic 
school of Anglican Evangelicanism, the school that laid great 
emphasis in its theology and its preaching upon the suffering 
love of Christ. The marvelous success of the Methodist 
Church in its evangelistic work is due in large measure to 
its powerful presentation of this motive. From the founding 
of this church and ever on, the love of God, as disclosed in 
the cross of Christ, has been the favorite theme of its preach- 
ers. Few preachers in any age have equalled Bishop Simp- 
son in power of pathos in dealing with the love of the cru- 
cified Redeemer, and with the glory and blessedness of the 



254 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

heavenly life as the crown of our earthly conflict in the fel- 
lowship of his sufferings. These were the motives he liked 
most to urge. When he reached them in his discourses he 
always rose to the supreme height of a well-balanced elo- 
quence and was then at his best. Here he showed himself 
to be at home and was able to sustain himself in the most 
exalted flights of emotional eloquence, as in a genuine in- 
spiration. His very diction became more simple and natural 
and forceful, and even more exact. Henry Ward Beecher, 
especially in the early years of his ministry, had amazing 
power over the hearts of men. His first and mid-period 
preaching had an evangelical tone which that of the later 
period lacked. The motives which he urged and which 
were appropriated as the product of his own religious ex- 
periences were those that appeal to the heart, and they 
mightily searched the hearts to which they appealed. In 
his later life he aspired to be the teacher rather than inspirer 
of men and there was a distinct loss in that power which was 
distinctively his own. A favorite method of fostering the 
religious life in the Roman Catholic church, to which there 
is something corresponding in some of the Protestant 
churches, is the "retreat." Its prevailing method is to keep 
before the mind, and largely through pictures for the imagi- 
nation, the sufferings of Christ. An increase in such meas- 
ures for quickening and chastening the Christian life might 
be profitable in all the churches of our day. How has it 
come about that so much of the preaching that we hear fails 
to move the heart? Is it that preachers are losing their hold 
of the religion of redemption, losing their hold of the heart 
of religion, losing the dynamic of suffering love in the incul- 
cation of a Christianity which is summarized as a law of life, 
'whose chief significance is the exaction of moral tasks rather 
than as a revelation of the grace of God? Is it connected 
'with the fact that the evangelistic type of preaching is not 



THE EVANGELISTIC TYPE 255 

cultivated as once it was? And if so, why is this? Is it that, 
in the sittings and eliminations of our critical processes, the 
irreducible remainder of our Christianity appears as only a 
system of ethics? The culture of our day is largely intellec- 
tual, aesthetic and ethical. The religious feelings and affec- 
tions are not adequately cultured. And why is this? Are 
we perhaps cultivating ourselves away from the heart's purest 
and sublimest inspirations? 

5. The moral motive. It is possible to work directly 
upon the results of the early training of the conscience, 
upon a trained sense of obligation to Christ, in which the 
conscience has been precommitted. And it is here that the 
moral allies itself with the aesthetic motive, or a sense of 
moral obligation with a sense of the attractiveness of the 
Christian life. The value of early religious education is con- 
spicuous here. It creates a conscience for Christ. It pre- 
commits the moral nature and secures a bias towards him. 
There are those who can be reached by appeal to a certain 
sense of honor, to a moral sentiment and judgment that res- 
spects a character and life that are worthy of a man, and the 
possibilities that are opened up in Christ before them. The 
very fact that men are called to be the children of God, that 
in all their degradation they are his children, the very height 
of the calling, the very vastness of the fact, here is an appeal 
to manhood. It is a motive that should appeal to any manly 
young man. The contrast between what one is of right and 
privilege, and what one has become in fact — what one was 
made to be and called to be and what one has made oneself 
— is a startling contrast. Aspiration is awakened by opening 
up the hopes of the Gospel. Christ won men largely by 
showing them that in him a better manhood is possible. 
Assurance of the good stirs the consciousness of the bad. It 
was the returning consciousness of sonship and the hope of 
welcome as a son at the old home that won the prodigal, and 



256 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

the power of the parable is in its illustration of this possibility 
of a recovered child and home consciousness. 

6. The social motive. Personal example, various forms 
of personal influence, are powerful factors in winning men 
to Christ. The social motive is strong in early years. It 
operates powerfully in periods of religious awakening. In 
all evangelistic effort in the interest of the young this should 
never be forgotten. That one shares with others a common 
good makes it easier to appropriate it as a personal good. 
The dread of losing the power of a sacred social influence, of 
being left behind and alone by the comrades one loves, the 
conviction that the accepted time and the day of salvation is 
the time when God makes it easy by the power of cooperat- 
ing sympathies to yield allegiance to Christ. All this is 
operative in the evangelistic interest. And there are al- 
ways those in any community where the fruits of Christian 
education abound, who, more sensitively conscientious than 
others, reflect regretfully upon their own past influence, and 
who wish to make amends therefor. The possibility that 
one may influence others to enter the Christian life, and that 
one may be measurably responsible for others' failure, is a 
potent motive to a manly youth. Recall the case of Dr. 
Horace Bushnell, who returned to his own allegiance to Christ 
under the pressure of a burdening sense of social responsibil- 
ity as a teacher of college men. It is a singularly interesting 
illustration of the power of the social conscience in a man 
of tremendous personal force and of unique individuality. 
In a time when the social aspects of Christian morality are so 
strongly accentuated and when men are made to feel their 
social obligations, it is a motive that may be urged with great 
effectiveness. The attractions of a common service in the 
kingdom of God was a motive which Prof. Drummond 
urged with skill and power in his evangelistic effort on be- 
half of educated young men. This was the distinctive fea- 



THE EVANGELISTIC TYPE 257 

ture in the evangelism of the Rev. B. Fay Mills. It was 
surely not the failure of his evangelistic method that brought 
about his retirement from the evangelistic field. 

The motives above outlined, of course blend and co- 
operate. Many streams of influence flow into the current of 
any man's Christian life. Combinations of motive are nec- 
essary to move men. To find out to what motives men are 
most likely to respond is the evangelistic preacher's task. 
He must study men, not only masses of men, but individual 
men. He needs to study the use of motive by successful 
evangelistic preachers. Pastoral knowledge is tributary to 
pastoral evangelism, and here the professional evangelist is 
at a certain disadvantage. 



CHAPTER V 

TYPES OF SERMON DELIVERY 

The best method of sermon delivery, best in general or 
best for any particular preacher, can not be determined 
off hand. Xo one method is universally best. One 
method is best in one respect and for one man; another 
best in another respect and for another man. Each has 
its advantages. It is a concrete question, not to be 
answered by an appeal to general principles. It is 
settled at last by experiment. But in applying the test 
of experiment some general considerations may come into 
discussion. 

The personality of the preacher is a consideration of im- 
portance. A preacher's method, and his success in it, here 
as elsewhere, depend on the peculiarities of his endowment 
and training. There are certain habits of mind that are 
better adapted to one than to another method. There are 
also questions of temperament that demand recognition. 
Gifts of speech or lack of such gifts, are to be considered. 
One's physical condition in general or at any particular time 
is not an insignificant matter. One's personal training de- 
mands recognition. A preacher may easily become a slave 
to a particular method, so as to become incapacitated for 
any other, although originally as well fitted for one as for 
another. Scottish and New England preachers have fur- 
nished many examples of this tyranny of habit. There 
are preachers who never discover their possibilities till they are 
pushed to the test. 

The subject or theme of the sermon demands considera- 



TYPES OF SERMON DELIVERY 259 

tion. Some themes are more easily, more appropriately and 
more successfully presented in one than in another 
method. 

The object of the sermon challenges attention. The ques- 
tion may always well be raised; can I accomplish my 
purpose best by writing out fully what I have to say and 
reading it, or by carefully thinking my subject through 
and trusting to the occasion for its rhetorical form 
or by writing and memorizing, in whole or in part, 
or can I best realize my aim by combining the three 
methods? 

The character of the audience may determine the answer 
to the question. The exceptionally intelligent and cultivated 
audience perhaps generally prefers and is best edified by the 
sermon that is written and read, or memorized. This is 
not always the case. But in some sections of the United 
States it is true. The audience of only average intelligence, 
however, generally prefers the extemporaneous method. One 
would hardly take a manuscript into a country school house, 
or town hall, or opera house or camp meeting. The character 
and conditions of the audience would forbid it. Bishop 
Brooks was a manuscript preacher, but before a promis- 
cuous audience he almost never appeared with his manuscript. 
He knew that he could speak more effectively without it. 
And yet this is largely a matter of habit and custom. 
Some of the most intelligent and cultivated audiences are 
adapting themselves to extemporaneous preaching. The 
whole question is relative. There is no absolutely best 
method. 

But let us take up the three methods in succession and 
consider their claims and limitations. The subject has been 
very fully discussed, there is a great amount of literature 
bearing upon it, and there is no need of entering upon it 
at lensrth. 



260 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

I. The Manuscript Type 

We will consider its conditions of value and its limitations. 

I. The use of the manuscript seems to be best adapted 
to the mental bias, habit and training of some preachers. It 
is also best adapted to their literary style and general habit 
of preaching. The late Prof. George Shepard of Bangor 
Theological Seminary is an illustration. His mental movement 
was deliberate and strong. Until aroused by his subject and 
audience, he was a little heavy. He was exceptionally grave, 
serious and impressive. His style was compact and forceful 
and rose to a high elevation of emotional vigor at the end 
of the sermon. It was concentrated energy. It was his pur- 
pose to handle the commonly-accepted truths of evangelical 
Christianity in such a way as to make them as effective as 
possible upon the heart and conscience, and so upon the will. 
He trained himself carefully along this line. His speech was, 
in extraordinary measure, concentrated, direct, forcible, but 
deliberate, weighty, dignified. He never threw himself out 
upon the broader, freer lines of movement, never gave him- 
self wide range, but aimed straight at a near and definite 
centre. It is difficult for any one who understood the charac- 
ter of his preaching to imagine that he could have been as 
effective without as he was with the manuscript. There was 
an interesting correspondence between the quality of his 
thought, his diction and his elocution, and it was the man- 
uscript that largely conditioned that correspondence. 

The essay type of mental habit, if one may so call it, is 
in general best served by the use of the manuscript. The mind 
that deals naturally and habitually with the minute details 
of thought, that does not grasp it in its broad outlines, nor 
hold it in close relation, but moves freely from one thought 
to another along the line of relatively remote suggestion, 
always takes kindly to the manuscript. This is the reason 
doubtless why Emerson was always obliged to read his ad- 



TYPES OF SERMON DELIVERY 261 

dress and could never even memorize it. Considering his 
mental habit, his habit of producing and writing, it is just 
what we might expect. It was for much the same reason, 
perhaps, that Chalmers was a manuscript preacher. His ser- 
mons were rhetorical and oratorical essays, close-wrought and 
defective with respect to broad, clear, bold outlines. 

One can readily see why the late Prof. Swing of Chicago 
and why Dr. Parkhurst of New York must use the manuscript. 
They belong to the class of pulpit essayists. Their discourses 
are essays turned measurably into the form of addresses. 
The manuscript is of value to the preacher of abstract habits 
of thought, i. e., whose mind deals habitually with abstract 
truth. It is of value to the preacher whose temperament is 
phlegmatic, whose speech is slow moving, the preacher who, 
like the late Canon Mozley, lacks linguistic facility. It is 
difficult to conceive of Mozley as anything but a manuscript 
preacher. It is of value for the discourse in which close and 
discriminating thought is demanded, whose object is the elu- 
cidation of a difficult subject, and the edification of intel- 
ligent hearers by increase of knowledge. In all cases where 
exceptional exactness of conception and of statement is de- 
manded and where the success of the sermon depends on 
such exactness the manuscript is desirable. There are but 
very few extemporaneous preachers that can speak with 
an exactness equal to that of the manuscript preacher. I 
venture the suggestion that the manuscript promotes variety 
in preaching. It does not tend to a uniform and stereotyped 
method as does the extemporaneous habit. Compare Robert- 
son with Bushnell in this regard. Robertson's variety is in 
the substance of his thought. His method is stereotyped. 
Bushnell has variety in both substance and form. The 
manuscript sermon is likely to anchor itself more closely to 
the text than the extemporaneous sermon. It is careful study 
of the text and close adherence to it that will secure a de- 



262 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

velopment that is pertinent to it and to the subject deduced, 
and thus we have a variety corresponding to the variety of 
texts and subjects. The manuscript sermon is generally the 
more carefully prepared, and it is the more carefully pre- 
pared discourse that is likely to have a character and form 
of its own. The less carefully prepared sermon is likely 
to take the form with which the mind of the preacher has 
become familiar and in connection with which it works most 
easily and readily, because of this familiarity with a limited 
number of topics. In the written sermon the development 
runs out more fully into the details of thought. Thought 
is more fully expanded. This expansion of thought con- 
ditions variety of thought. The farther one strikes out from 
the main stream of thought into the back country, the more 
rivulets of thought he taps. The farther one gets into a 
mine the more wide-ranging run the veins. It is in part per- 
haps for this reason that the manuscript sermon is likely to 
meet a larger variety of needs. It is perhaps possible for the 
preacher to sustain himself longer in a parish with a manuscript 
if properly used, than without it. The superior literary form 
of the manuscript sermon is one of the stock arguments for 
it. He is a rare extemporaneous preacher who can express 
himself in as good literary form as the manuscript preacher. 
The value of this superior literary form will of course de- 
pend on the use that is made of it. If it fosters a tendency 
to make the sermon an end, an artistic product rather than 
an effective rhetorical instrument, it is pernicious. But in 
any event the written sermon has an advantage in the clear- 
ness that follows deliberation and exactness of statement, 
in the forcefulness that follows conciseness of state- 
ment, and in the finish that belongs to the more carefully 
wrought product. A larger number of good literary qualities 
are cultivated by the use of the manuscript. It is for this 
reason that the written product abides. Extemporaneous ser- 



TYPES OF SERMON DELIVERY 263 

mons generally are short-lived. It is to a large extent the 
literary quality of sermons that gives them perpetuity. In 
so far as the possession of the manuscript in the pulpit 
insures deliberation and self-poise and self-assurance and 
ease of mind, it becomes tributary to an edifying public 
worship. The man who takes his manuscript into the pulpit 
will leave his homiletic burdens behind. He who carries 
his sermon in his mind and carries anxiety and perplexity 
with it, cannot be wholly at his ease or at home either in 
preaching or in the conduct of worship. These are all familiar 
defenses of the manuscript. They are all at best relative 
and one-sided. They show clearly enough how much may be 
said for it. But it is possible that most of these defenses may 
be counter-weighted by arguments in favor of other methods, 
and especially by its own limitations. 

2. Limitations of the manuscript. Its physical limitations. 
It is a tax upon physical energy. The men who break down 
in the ministry are largely slaves of the pen. The men who 
do their work at night are generally the manuscript preachers. 
Protracted work under great physical disadvantages, such as 
are involved in the writing and reading of sermons, will sap 
a man's energies. 

Its intellectual limitations. It consumes time that might 
be given to broader study and training. The manuscript 
slave cannot grow as he otherwise might. He is likely to 
become a mere sermonizer, a sermon monger, and to lose 
the influence that a broader culture might secure. He is 
an authority upon no subject, because he does not find or give 
himself time for thorough investigation and study. This is 
one of the chief reasons why men of intellectual aspirations 
are in our day emancipating themselves from such servitude. 

Its possible moral limitations. The preacher who always 
writes and reads his sermons easily overestimates the lit- 
erary or artistic form. In so far as this is the case, the proper 



264 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

ethical aim of preaching may be lost sight of. Hence defect 
in the moral purpose of the preacher. Excessive devotion to 
form limits moral aim and moral power. Thus the sermon 
fails to do its work. In times of religious awakening the man- 
uscript is likely to disappear, in part and for a time at least. 
Any method of preaching may of course have its moral 
limitations. But the moral limitation of an excessive artistic 
ideal is peculiarly the product of manuscript preaching. 

Its oratorical limitations. The reading of a manuscript 
limits a man's oratorical powers. The limitation of posture, 
pantomime, use of eye and of vocal organs is evident. It is 
pretty sure that the conversational tone and method which 
are normal for the public speaker, are more readily cultivated 
by the extemporaneous preacher. One talks straight at 
his audience. Hence it is a more natural method of 
preaching. It is pretty sure also that the emotions have freer 
play. 

Its professional limitations. Enslavement to the manuscript 
limits the influence of the pulpit in these democratic days. 
Pulpit oratory can not hold its own with other forms of 
oratory. The greatest triumphs of oratory have been in the 
field of free utterance. The pulpit can never reach its best 
till it is emancipated. Everybody likes to see a public man 
stand up in a free, manly way, and say out what is in him 
to say in a straight manner. The manuscript is relatively 
modern. It is on the whole the exceptional thing. In the 
early church it was wholly unknown. Dr. Dale says that 
the arguments are overwhelmingly against it. This is too 
strong a statement perhaps. For there is a place for the 
manuscript. It originated in an honest effort to better the 
teaching quality of the pulpit. It accentuates its didactic 
function. It is not a perversion. It has been perverted and 
overdone. It has been made tributary to agnosticism, nat- 
uralism, and dogmatic orthodoxy. The evangelistic spirit 



TYPES OF SERMON DELIVERY 265 

of Methodism has dealt it some heavy blows, and its power is 
broken. But its origin is not anti-Christian, and it has had 
a powerful and beneficial reign. Equal results could not have 
been accomplished without it. The pulpit of the last three 
centuries, indeed of the last six centuries, would have been the 
weaker without it, and modern theological and religious liter- 
ature would have been impoverished. But a change has come. 
The pulpit returns to the earlier method of freedom. It gives 
full scope to all the preacher's powers. The energies of his 
personality will never find full expression in the pulpit till 
he is emancipated from the slavery of the pen. Personality 
as the organ of truth and of the spirit of truth, is at its best 
only when free. The preacher needs a chance to throw into 
his speech all his power of feeling and of will, evoked and in- 
spired by the audience and the occasion as well as of thought 
evoked and inspired by the truth. Fettered to the manuscript 
he is often like a chained eagle, flapping his wings and striv- 
ing to soar, but held in restraint. The will, especially, can not 
have full, free play upon an audience with the manuscript. 
One can hardly conceive of a thoroughly successful evangelis- 
tic preacher in our day as subject to its restraint. 

But the manuscript will still be used and within limits should 
be used. How then may it be used to best advantage? It is 
clear enough that a manuscript sermon is not properly written 
to be read, to be read as an essay or a book is read. It is 
properly written for delivery, and should be delivered. A 
product prepared as an address is very different from one 
prepared as an essay, or a treatise. The Scotch have been 
accustomed to call the manuscript sermon "the book" and 
appropriately, for Scottish sermons are often read as a book 
is read. Chalmers did not read, although he held to the manu- 
script, and it was the glow of his rhetoric and the fiery en- 
thusiasm of this delivery that rescued it from ineffectiveness. 
Bishop Brooks has spoken of "extemporaneous writing," and 



266 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

he himself was an example of extemporaneousness in the best 
sense. It is possible to write with nearly as much freedom 
as one would speak extemporaneously, and without the defects 
of the extemporaneous form. This should be the aim of the 
manuscript preacher. It is possible to give the sermon an 
easy, natural, colloquial, flexible movement. One who pre- 
pares with the audience in mind and as if he were actually 
addressing an audience will realize this result. One who 
thus writes will write with deliberation but with fervor, and 
in subsequently pruning the manuscript he will not cut into 
the quick. Of course one can not deliver a sermon that can 
not be easily read, that is not written in clear, bold hand, and 
properly paragraphed, nor can it be read unless the preacher 
is perfectly familiar with it. It doubtless requires some effort 
to deliver a manuscript sermon naturally, but it is a goal that 
may be reached. One may at last speak almost as naturally, 
as simply, as directly and as freely with a manuscript or with- 
out it. If the sermon is written with rhetorical freedom and 
with reference to delivery, it will invite the conversational 
type of address which only is normal for the public speaker. 

II. The Extemporaneous Type 
The term extemporaneous has considerable range. It is 
sometimes applied to the address that is premeditated 
both as to thought and diction, and that is repro- 
duced as prepared, although not in strictest sense mem- 
orized. There are public speakers, or have been, who 
are able to reproduce their products in about the same 
language in which they were thought out and without con- 
scious effort. The speeches of Wendell Phillips seemed to 
be of this sort. And such perhaps were the speeches of 
Edward Everett. Of course no sermon can be premeditated 
as to its substance without relation to its rhetorical form. For 
thought takes shape in words. But it is the sermon that is 



TYPES OF SERMON DELIVERY 267 

not reproduced in the pulpit in the exact literary form in which 
it first shaped itself, that is properly called extemporaneous — 
extemporaneous at least in the commonly-accepted sense. 
The great amount that has been written upon this subject 
would render a full discussion gratuitous and unprofitable. I 
venture only a few suggestions with respect to the conditions 
of success in this type of preaching. 

1. Among the mental conditions must be named a habit 
of clear, discriminating thought. Necessary in all preaching, 
it is preeminently so here. The extemporaneous preacher 
has three problems to master, three that are of special impor- 
tance, the problem of discriminating, the problem of relating 
and the problem of expressing thought. Any man who has 
analytic skill, and trains himself to discriminate clearly, who 
has the ability to grasp his subject in its main and subordinate 
features and to relate and develop them in an orderly manner, 
who can express himself readily, clearly and forcibly, may 
make an extemporaneous preacher, if he have the ordinary 
susceptibility of feeling and oratorical impulse. Upon all 
these conditions the exercise of memory, of imagination and 
of feeling largely depends. But of all these requisites, mental 
discrimination is of chief or at least of primal importance. A 
muddy thinker needs the homiletic crutch. 

Consider for a moment again the value of mental range. It 
is natural that the extemporaneous preacher should give him- 
self pretty free scope in the development of his theme. The 
written product generally has a narrower field, because it deals 
with the finer points of the subject and develops them more 
fully. Productiveness and range are the salient qualities in 
Henry Ward Beecher's preaching, and the former is connected 
with the latter. The theme opens broadly, the main topics 
contain a large amount of matter and spring naturally and 
readily from the subject and are always such as can be dis- 
cussed in an extemporaneous manner. If one finds himself 



268 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

shut up within narrow bounds and is forced to close work in 
the development of material, he is likely to find that he lacks 
the requisite facility and freedom of mental action, which 
would be quickened in a larger field of thought. One can 
take a single complete thought whose elements are closely re- 
lated and write about it more easily than he can speak about 
it without writing. It is easy to reproduce upon one's feet 
a wide-ranging, methodically-outlined sermon shaped in the 
form of a rhetorical address. It is this ease of reproduction 
that conditions success in the extemporaneous and I may add 
the memorative sermon. Just here, however, is one of the 
possible defects of this type of preaching. There is a tempta- 
tion to generalize too widely, to cultivate breadth at cost of 
depth, thoroughness, and definiteness. One may easily form 
the habit of dealing with topics that are too big and general 
without thinking the subject through. One thus becomes thin 
in proportion to his range. But the general principle is valid. 
Free-ranging and orderly-related and developed thought is a 
pre-requisite of extemporaneous preaching. One can see why 
Robert Hall should have been a successful extemporaneous 
preacher. He took a broad survey of a subject and discussed 
it in its logical relations. Compare him with John Foster, 
the "essay preacher." One can not think of Edmund Burke 
as dependent on a manuscript. The habit of extemporaneous 
speech cultivates the mental habit above specified, and with 
good results, provided thoroughness and insight are associated 
with breadth. 

A judicious selection of texts and themes is important for 
the extemporaneous preacher. Texts and themes differ, as 
previously suggested, in their adaptation to extemporaneous 
preaching. Of course men differ, and what may be difficult 
for one may be easy for another. Familiarity with the theme, 
whether difficult or not, or whether adapted to the extempora- 
neous method or not, is also an important consideration. But 



TYPES OF SERMON DELIVERY 269 

some texts and themes are in their nature better adapted to 
all classes of extemporaneous preachers. For example, texts 
that are readily developed after the textual method are in 
general better adapted to extemporaneous preaching than 
those texts that call for topical development. In the effort 
to train oneself in the extemporaneous method one may well 
begin with the textual development. The theme that calls 
for exhaustive treatment naturally asks for the manuscript. 
The theme that justifies the suggestive method of develop- 
ment, the outline of which calls for free handling rather than 
exhaustive expansion, naturally asks for the extemporaneous 
form. 

No extemporaneous preacher will ever succeed without such 
thorough mastery of his subject as gives him a free and 
familiar handling of it. Scarcity of material will never do 
here. The preacher needs a surplus. "To him that hath 
shall be given and he shall have more abundantly. But from 
him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he 
seemeth to have." Preaching of this type must be free. 
Constraint is homiletic paralysis. Only the master can be 
free. It is a great joy to preach when one knows that he is 
ready for it. Temptation to negligence and to inadequate 
preparation is no objection to the method but to a failure to 
meet its demands. There is no excuse for a negligence that 
results in a superficial, stereotyped, slavish, diffuse method of 
preaching that lacks all freshness and fullness. The tempta- 
tion to neglect should put one upon his guard. 

The cultivation of the homiletic mind is of special impor- 
tance to the extemporaneous preacher. The manuscript 
preacher is not so dependent on the habit of storing material 
and turning it into the homiletic mill. He can work slowly; 
he can wait. But the extemporaneous preacher must rely 
upon material that is abundant and ready at hand. One of the 
arguments for this method is that it is promotive of the habit 



2;o THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

of constant preparation under all conditions. The man who 
turns all the material of thought, gathered from a thousand 
sources into homiletic pabulum is pretty sure, like Henry Ward 
Beecher, to be an extemporaneous preacher. 

2. Among the rhetorical conditions of success is a con- 
crete habit of mind. It is in the realm of the concrete that the 
mind moves most freely without a manuscript. It furnishes 
images for the imagination, and intensifies the action of the 
emotions. The abstract thinker needs a manuscript. French 
preachers naturally follow the free method for the reason that 
they are natural rhetoricians and orators, who are familiar' 
with concrete realities that appeal to feeling and imagination. 
Connected with this is the culture of the oratorical tempera- 
ment. The preacher who is not responsive to his audience 
will need the pulpit crutch. But the man who, while he is 
self-poised and deliberate and does not allow his emotions to 
dominate or conquer him, is sympathetic with his hearers and 
readily responds to impressions from them, is the one who 
succeeds here. A free and facile use of language is a neces- 
sary element in the equipment of the extemporaneous 
preacher. The lack of linguistic facility drives one to the 
manuscript. Such facility is dependent on many things, on 
the character of one's mental movement, and on tempera- 
ment. The Frenchman's mental and temperamental habits fit 
his for this type of speech. In linguistic gifts he is in general 
superior to the German, English and American preacher. But 
all this is largely a matter of culture. A large and varied 
vocabulary is important. The vocabulary of the pulpit is in 
general too limited. That of the average extemporaneous 
preacher is probably more limited than that of the manuscript 
preacher. The latter is likely to exercise more care in the 
choice of diction. The free preacher needs especially to be 
a diligent student of language. A general habit of accuracy 
of speech is tributary to extemporaneous power. Writing 



TYPES OF SERMON DELIVERY 271 

cultivates this. The best free speech rests upon the manu- 
script. Writing has laid the foundation. Most preachers 
who have succeeded here have begun with the manuscript. 
Mr. Beecher and Dr. R. S. Storrs are examples. Good habits 
of speech in daily intercourse, even with the illiterate, will 
stand by one in the pulpit. The lack of such habits will dis- 
close itself in spite of oneself. 

3. As to ethical conditions, which are among the must sig- 
nificant, must be named a strong and earnest purpose to real- 
ize as fully as possible the legitimate results of one's ministry. 
Of course all preachers, whatever their method, need this and 
are supposed to have it. But the man who is supremely bent 
on reaching men and on bringing them into subjection to the 
truth, and especially the evangelistic preacher, will be su- 
premely solicitious with respect to the question of method in 
approaching them. I incline to the opinion that the ex- 
temporaneous sermon is especially dependent on the preacher's 
moral earnestness. One may hold an audience by a thought- 
ful, lucid, elegant essay-like style of manuscript preaching. 
But it is difficult to see how an extemporaneous preacher, 
who must measurably sacrifice literary excellence, can hold 
his audience and do the work he should do, without making a 
strong impression of moral power. It is he who should have 
by preeminence the mark of moral force. A strong moral 
purpose will quicken and ennoble the action of all the faculties. 
Concentrated force of will, power of feeling and affection and 
the vigor of a strong and healthy conscience should disclose 
themselves preeminently in this type of preaching, and if the 
preaching be of the right sort, they will disclose themselves. 
The man who preaches on this wise gets nearest to his audience 
and subjects them to his power. He can be tremendously 
wrought upon by his hearers. He commits himself to his 
hearers with self-abandonment. He is lifted into self-forget- 
fulness and into moral elevation and effectiveness in such sort 



272 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

as the man who is chained down to a manuscript may not be. 
Connected with the above is a strong purpose to succeed in 
this method of speech. A thorough trial of it, and a prompt 
beginning are to be recommended. Many begin too late, fail 
to put it to the full proof and give it up before they have 
demonstrated that they can not succeed in it. The testimony 
of those who are committed in principle to the method and 
who begin early is worth considering. Preaching without 
manuscript half the time from the very first will probably 
realize the best results. One will have better matter, better 
method, better style, and in general better habits of careful- 
ness, thoroughness and facility in preaching by following both 
methods for a considerable period of time. 

Training in self-possession is an important feature in ex- 
temporaneous preaching. And this is an ethical consideration. 
Moral purpose has much to do with the handling of oneself 
and of one's subject in the pulpit.* He who forgets himself 
in the subject that masters him and in the object at which 
he aims will win freedom. One's general habit of self- 
command, which is a moral achievement, will stand by one 
and save one from the embarrassments that bring confusion. 
Physical conditions are involved here. The extemporaneous 
preacher should have special care to enter the pulpit, in just 
as good physical condition as possible. But it is moral purpose 
that is above all else important. A sense of vocation, re- 
sponsiveness to the power of the truth, love and devotion to 
one's fellow men; these are conditions of free utterance. 

Special spiritual preparation, always important in entering 
the pulpit, is especially so for the extemporaneous preacher, 
for it is a condition of self-possession and of freedom and 
cogency of speech. He who is lifted into a great height of 
spiritual inspiration is a free man. The extemporaneous 
preacher needs the tranquillity of the upper realm. He is 



*Sce Dr. Alexander's Thoughts on Preaching, page 165. 



TYPES OF SERMON DELIVERY 273 

subject to many disturbing influences. He needs the uplift of 
spiritual power to place him above them. It is conceivable 
that one may enter the pulpit in such condition of spiritual 
freedom and power that no earthly influence can disturb him. 

III. The Memoriter Type 

There is more to be said in favor of memoriter preach- 
ing than might at first be supposed. It is the least 
common of all methods, and there is a good deal of preju- 
dice against it, especially among American preachers, who 
rarely make use of it. But it may be advocated as a de- 
sirable method in the occasional or exceptional sermon, 
where freedom of delivery may be combined with carefulness, 
thoroughness and accuracy of thought and diction, and in the 
use of old written sermons, which may be freshened by the 
free introduction of new material along the old line of thought. 

In defense of this method it should first of all be recalled 
that it has proved successful in the hands of some of the best 
preachers of the church. Witness the preachers of the Ger- 
man, French and to a limited extent of the Scottish church. 
Tholuck, Christlieb, Lacordaire, Massilion, Vinet, Monod, 
Coquerel, Guthrie. Whether they would have been as effective 
in any other method may be doubted, certainly not in the use 
of the manuscript. It is not an impracticable method. It is 
not difficult to acquire facility in the use of memory. Secular 
orators, like Charles Sumner, as well as preachers, have not 
only begun their public careers but continued and ended them 
by carefully writing and memorizing their speeches. 

It combines thoroughness with freedom, precision with im- 
pressiveness, finish with force. And this is the common argu- 
ment for it. The material of the sermon is well digested and 
the literary form good. At the same time the preacher can 
adjust himself to the occasion by interjecting fresh material 
without disturbing the course of thought, as Dr. Guthrie fre- 



274 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

quently did. The more thorough the previous preparation has 
been, the more readily suggestive of fresh material it will be. 
It is this thoroughness of preparation, which lies back of free- 
dom in delivery, that naturally commends it to German and 
Scotch preachers. It is its freedom and finish upon a ground- 
work of well-digested material that naturally commends it to 
French preachers. The time and labor of committal are the 
chief objections. But the memory may be trained to do its 
work with wonderful facility and rapidity. What takes at 
first parts of three or four days, is at last easily accomplished 
in an hour on Sunday morning as in the case of Prof. Christ- 
lieb and of Dr. Guthrie. The objection made by Dr. Robinson 
that the task cultivates the memory disportionately, injuring 
the powers of imagination, of feeling, judgment and of pro- 
ductive thought, by concentrating too much energy upon the 
work of remembering, is hardly supported by experience. If 
one writes with reference to delivery without the manuscript 
and with the audience in mind, writes as he would speak in his 
best manner, with a free hand, and with clear outline, he will 
easily memorize it and without any disproportionate exercise 
of memory. Memory may be so cultivated as to act with unem- 
barrassed freedom. The mere act of remembering in course 
of time becomes wholly insignificant, so insignificant that 
one is hardly conscious of it as an effort. And this may answer 
the objection that the memoriter sermon always betrays itself 
and can not have the same effect upon an audience that an 
extemporaneous sermon has. The objection assumes that one 
will never be able to free oneself from the appearance of effort 
in memorizing, and that it will always seem like a recitation. 
If this were true, it would doubtless be a fatal objection. But 
this is not a necessary result. The alleged fact that the 
memoriter sermon is soon forgotten is adduced as evidence 
that the mind is injured by the process of memorizing. It is 
assumed that it must be an unnatural and so injurious process, 



TYPES OF SERMON DELIVERY 275 

else it would not be so easily forgotten. But this proves too 
much. That one easily forgets is no proof that the process 
which secured the transient result to the memory was unnat- 
ural and injurious. But the truth of the assertion that the 
memoriter sermon is easily forgotten, more easily by implica- 
tion than other types of sermon, may be challenged. It is at 
any rate true that it is very easily recalled. 

One of the defects of the manuscript sermon, in the hands 
of a preacher especially who lacks rhetorical and oratorical 
impulse, is its temptation to run into an over-didactic dis- 
cussion and into an essay method. It is written to be read, 
not delivered. It is thus likely to lack the rhetorical and 
oratorical quality that belongs to an address. But the sermon 
that is written to be delivered without the manuscript, will as 
of necessity have the character of an address. Note the re- 
sult in the preaching of Dr. Guthrie. One can hardly cite 
him as an example of supreme success in memoriter preaching. 
But in this respect he was successful ; he wrote with reference 
to freedom of address and with reference to committing to 
memory and this secured for his product the requisite oratori- 
cal quality. 

The chief defect of the extemporaneous sermon is, as al- 
ready suggested, that it is likely to run into generalities, to 
lack closeness and deflniteness of thought, variety of form, 
compactness, brevity and precision of statement. It is at 
least clear, whatever else may be said about it, that the 
memoriter method will correct these defects. 



IV 

SECTION FOURTH 

METHODS OF HOMILETIC ART 



METHODS OF HOMILETIC ART 

We are here introduced to what is technically designated 
as Formal Homiletics, and we shall find ourselves chiefly inter- 
ested in the organic or structural rather than in the rhetorical 
form of the sermon. It is thus that the artistic aspects of 
preaching become prominent. Assuming, as we have done, 
that the text belongs more properly to material than to formal 
homiletics, let us follow the usual analysis of the organism of 
the Sermon. 



CHAPTER I 

THE INTRODUCTION 

I. The Object of the Introduction 
I. It is to fix attention on what is coming. "If the in- 
troduction be not pertinent," says a Welsh preacher, "the 
preacher does not know where he is going, and if the 
inferences be not pertinent, it is evident that he does 
not know where he has been." The same is true as re- 
gards the hearer. The introduction shows the hearer 
where the preacher is going. When he arrives at his 
landing place, which becomes a new point of departure, 
the hearer sees how he landed there. The introduction 
wins and fixes attention on this part of the journey. It is 
to render one's hearers at the outset "attentos" to use the 
classical term, in order that afterward they may the more 
readily become "dociles" as regards the subject and perhaps 
"benevolos" as regards the preacher. The text is but a gen- 
eral starting-point. It suggests the subject only in a general 
and perhaps wholly obscure manner. A transition is needed 
from this general starting-point to a definite, specific theme, 
and thence onward. By advancing from this undiscriminated, 
complex text-thought to the discriminated, specific theme- 
thought, the preacher shows his hearer the method of ap- 
proach. It is a process similar to that which he followed in his 
own work of preparation. He thus takes the hearer along 
with him. Or if he gets his theme independently of the text, 
the introduction helps him put text and theme in manifest 
relation. This process holds attention. If an equivalent re- 
sult could be secured at the start by dumping the theme upon 



280 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

the audience, the preacher might begin at once. Sometimes 
this may well be done. Abruptness is sometimes of great 
rhetorical value. Surprise is an element of interest. But 
this is exceptional. In general, attention is not satisfactorily 
secured by asking for it at the start, or by assuming that one 
has it as of course. It must be won. And it is well to secure 
the best kind of attention and to secure it at best advantage. 
It is thus that the introduction adapts itself to the condition 
of the hearer. It has, therefore, a psychological significance 
and value. It approaches its object in such way as will 
most effectively secure for it the requisite mental and emo- 
tional point of contact with the hearer. 

2. In fixing attention, the introduction also stimulates in- 
quiry. Instead of thrusting the subject upon the hearer sud- 
denly and without any cooperation of his own, the preacher 
takes him into a sort of mental and moral copartnership, leads 
him on step by step in such way as to secure the exercise of 
his faculties and to anticipate for himself measurably perhaps 
the subject ahead. A mental process is thus quickened. We 
take in objects of thought in their relations. One thing leads 
up to another. Each thought becomes the more significant 
and impressive by reason of its relation to other thoughts. 
We grasp the whole by following the details. "Invention" 
would be impossible, if we took in everything at once and in 
a lump. Every body is more or less inquisitive at the start. 
The introduction avails itself of that fact. It says ; Look out 
for what comes next. Here is the zest of it. Skillful rhet- 
oricians know how to stimulate this mental search. Dr. 
Guthrie was accustomed to work up his introductions artisti- 
cally. He began abruptly and with something that is striking. 
He quotes some proverb, presents to the imagination some 
material phenomenon that has life and movement, a crawling 
worm or a ship entering the harbor under full sail. He touches 
some human experience that interests us all, like the process 



THE INTRODUCTION 281 

of growing old. He tells a story. He approaches with a 
short, sharp, abrupt question. "Hast thou faith"? He thus 
rivets attention and in doing so stimulates the imagination 
and puts the hearer upon the search for his objective point. 
He starts at a distance from his subject, as Chrysostom used 
to do, and as the classical orators did and as the classical 
rhetoricians advised in their discussion of the Exordium. The 
audience becomes thus increasingly interested and alert as the 
preacher approaches his subject, and when they have it, he 
has them. 

3. In fixing attention and stimulating inquiry, the introduc- 
tion also secures a specific interest for and in the subject. 
Attention and inquiry are essential to interest. What the 
preacher wants is a definite mental and emotional interest in 
what he is at. He wants the hearer to start with him and 
share something of his own interest. He himself wins this 
interest partly by getting at the subject in a gradual way. He 
has not plunged into it at once. Opening up the subject as it 
opened itself to the preacher, the hearer will the more readily 
share his interest and capturing him at the start the preacher 
will be the more likely to hold him to the end, and thus the 
purpose of the sermon is the more likely to be realized, namely 
the reception of the truth. Apart from this purpose the intro- 
duction and the sermon itself as a whole can have no su- 
preme significance. The ultimate purpose of the introduction 
is precisely that of the sermon itself. In effect the preacher 
says : I want to discuss an important truth, and to win your 
attention, quicken your activities, secure your interest and 
thus realize my object. I open some preliminary phase of the 
subject to you as clearly and as attractively as I can; I want 
you to see the beginning of our juorney ; I want you to follow 
me step by step, so that you may discover the path along 
which we move, and by which we arrive at our objective point. 
I want you to test the legitimacy of my process, so that you 



282 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

may apprehend it the better and perhaps value it the more. 
Therefore I come to you introducing my subject step by step, 
leading the way to it and for it into your minds and I hope 
your consciences and hearts. The ways of doing this are 
various, but the end is the same, it is to put the hearer most 
advantageously in possession of the truth. 

Thus as having reference to the final moral purpose of the 
sermon the introduction has ethical significance. The object 
being to reach and influence men, the introduction will enable 
the sermon to do this the more effectively. With this ethical 
significance is associated an artistic significance. By con- 
tributing to the unity and symmetry of the sermon it satisfies 
the desire for completeness. This, of course, is a subordinate, 
but it is not a wholly insignificant, consideration. The sermon 
is an organism. The introduction is a part of it and is neces- 
sary to its symmetrical development. Or to change the figure, 
it is a piece of rhetorical architecture. The introduction is 
as necessary to its symmetry as the beginning of any artistic 
product. This does not mean that as a work of art it has no 
end beyond itself. No work of art is properly an end 
to itself. The end may not always be consciously present 
in the mind of the artist, but it will have some end, and, 
therefore, some ethical significance. The good in art as 
elsewhere is always the "good for something." One of the 
elements of perfection in any art product is its adaptation 
in all its parts to some appropriate end. It is preeminently so 
in any product of rhetoric art. The sermon is a rhetorical 
instrument. The perfection of the instrument is the complete- 
ness of its adaptation to its end. The artistic significance of 
the introduction, therefore, is ultimately in its contribution 
to the work of the sermon, and the artistic becomes allied with 
the ethical interest. 

Primarily then, the introduction is for the sake of the sermon 
and of the hearer, not for the sake of the preacher. It intro- 



THE INTRODUCTION 283 

duces the subject, not the man. The chief interest is here. 
Even in modern secular oratory the speaker must look out 
for the handling of his subject rather than for the handling 
of his audience by the tricks of oratory. In this pulpit oratory 
has led the way. Allegiance to the truth, not personal as- 
cendency over men, is the object. Early Christian preaching 
laid supreme stress upon this. It knew nothing of rhetoric 
and oratory. It distrusted and discredited them. The dis- 
course was artless. It was part of the service of a worship- 
ping congregation. Neither the speaker nor the discourse 
needed introduction, for the worship had prepared the minds 
and hearts of the congregation for the discourse, which was 
the exposition and application of a given passage of Scripture. 
But advancing culture brought rhetoric and oratory into the 
pulpit. Hence the exordium. As the sermon displaced the 
homily, the exordium became a rhetorical necessity. When- 
ever the pulpit has returned to the homily, as in the period 
of the Reformation, it has dropped the introduction. Luther 
used the homily, and he speaks slightingly of the introduction, 
declaring that he does not know how to preach artistically. 
Nature taught him his art. But in displacing the homily, the 
sermon has not displaced exposition. The exposition of the 
text in the introduction takes the place of the homily, in so far 
as it was explanatory. Hence the sermon some times has both 
introduction and exposition. The introduction is a general 
approach to the subject. The exposition is a specific and 
explanatory approach to it by clearing up the meaning of the 
text and showing how the theme comes from it. Some homi- 
letic writers still distinguish between introduction and exposi- 
tion. But it is needless. Exposition is one of the best sorts 
of introduction. What explains the text best introduces the 
subject. It also prepares the hearer for it and leads him into 
it. Whatever the method of the introduction, its chief object 
is to put the hearer most successfully in possession of the sub- 



284 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

ject. To announce the subject abruptly, either before or after 
giving the text, does not generally succeed in doing this most 
advantageously. Something to aid the hearer in appropriat- 
ing the subject intelligently and in apprehending its significance 
adequately, is generally desirable. Exposition may not always 
be necessary, for the text may be clear and simple. But some 
method of approach is of value for the apprehension of the 
subject. Even those who announce the subject at the outset, 
do not get on without the introduction, for they turn back 
and start over again. A prompt announcement of the subject 
is well enough, but having done this, one would better 
push on. Why should one in effect say to the congregation; 
Brethren, I have been a little precipitate in getting this thing 
before you. I take it all back; let us turn about and begin 
anew ? 

But preparing the subject for the hearer involves preparing 
the hearer for the subject. Skill in opening the way to the 
subject may prove to be an effectual way of winning the hearer 
to that good will, attention and docile interest in the subject 
that is the chief aim of the sermon itself. In a word ; do jus- 
tice to the subject and you will be the more likely to do justice 
to the audience. 

II. Methods of Introduction or Points of Departure 
Specific methods are innumerable. For convenience let 
us group them about certain centers, which furnish 
points of departure for the work. Five of them may be 
named. 

i. The preacher may be the center, or point of departure. 
What relates to the man, eliciting or concentrating interest in 
his personality or his experiences, may be a valuable method 
of approach. Secular orators avail themselves of this device 
and show skill in it. Pulpit oratory need not be ashamed 
of it. Preachers like Chrysostom, trained in the schools of 



THE INTRODUCTION 285 

classical rhetoric, and noted for rhetorical power, have ex- 
celled in this. But modern preachers also have known the 
personal introduction. An interesting sermon by Saurin 
illustrates this.* The text is from John 14: 15, 16, 
"Christ's Valedictory Address to his Disciples." The 
preacher relates the circumstances under which he had selected 
his text, half apologizing for making the pulpit the vehicle 
of such confidential communications. It was the exhibition of 
extraordinary Christian patience on the part of a brother 
minister during a painful sickness. This sick brother had 
found comfort in those words of Christ. "I was struck with 
this discourse," says the preacher, he means in connection 
with the above-mentioned experience ; "I immediately thought 
of you, my dear brethren, and I said to myself, my hearers had 
need be furnished with this powerful consolation, etc. Today 
I execute my design. Condescend to concur with me in it. 
Come and meditate on the last expressions which fell from the 
lips of the dying Saviour." The introduction centers wholly 
in this personal experience. Evangelistic preachers are accus- 
tomed to avail themselves of the personal introduction. Their 
success as evangelists gives weight to it. Mr. Spurgeon knew 
well how to avail himself of his hearers' interest in him, in his 
experiences and his accomplishments. In a sermon from John 
3 : 16, he begins by referring to the fact that he had been look- 
ing over the texts he had used and that he had failed to find 
this one among them. Then he refers to the character of his 
preaching and what he wishes it to be and calls them to witness 
that it has all been in line with this text. He refers to what 
an aged minister had said to him about preaching. It corre- 
sponded with what he himself had just said to them. This is 
the entire introduction. It might seem egotistical. Some 
preachers certainly would not tolerate it. But it may be effec- 
tive. Most people are interested in this sort of thing. They 



*Vol. VI, Sermon II. 



286 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

like to hear about such matters as centre in their preacher. 
They are interested in persons, even if they are somewhat 
conceited or self-conscious persons, as Mr. Spurgeon seemed 
to be. But the more simple and natural and genuine a man is, 
the more effective the personal introduction will be. Mr. 
Moody was such a man, and with great effectiveness he often 
introduced his sermons, in a very straight forward and every 
way proper manner, with a reference to some observation or 
experience that served his purpose. In ordinary pastoral 
preaching the personal introduction will be relatively infre- 
quent. One notices but few of such introductions in volumes 
of ordinary pastoral discourses. 

2. The occasion may furnish a basis for the introduction. 
The occasional introduction befits the occasional sermon. It 
gives an appropriate festal tone to an Easter or Christmas 
sermon to bring the introduction into connection with the 
joyous nature of the occasion. Special missionary sermons 
frequently open with a reference to the occasion. Bishop 
Brooks recognized the note of timeliness in it and sometimes 
accentuated the significance of his missionary sermons by the 
use of the occasional introduction. Bishop Simpson recog- 
nized the principle of adaptation in it. Bishop Huntington's 
sermon, dedicatory of Appleton Chapel at Harvard, entitled 
"The House of Prayer," opens with a history of the building. 
The occasional introduction may heighten the importance of 
the occasion, of the sermon, of the truth, perhaps in the right 
way of the preacher himself, in the estimate of the congrega- 
tion. The more exceptional and important the occasion, the 
more natural and impressive such an approach will be. Public 
funeral discourses may win special impressiveness by intro- 
ductory reference to the solemnity of the occasion. It would 
be almost a mark of singularity in a sermon on some great 
public calamity that it should fail to open in this way. The 
writer recalls the notes of sympathy and of awe that rang 



THE INTRODUCTION 287 

through the opening utterances of discourses preached on the 
Sunday following the assassination of President Lincoln. 

Chrysostom was accustomed to catch the note of the occa- 
sion in his introductory words. In one of his "Homilies on 
the Statues" preached in Antioch, on the occasion of the de- 
vastation of the city by order of the Emperor Theodosius I, he 
opens with a reference to the circumstances of the assembly. 
In another he refers to the presence in the assembly of the 
heathen prefect of the city. Again he opens with a vivid de- 
scription of the desolations of the city. Extemporaneous 
preachers are able to do this with facility. Ordinary sermons 
even may sometimes avail themselves of this type of introduc- 
tion. Mr. Beecher would sometimes smuggle into his opening 
words some reference to what had been suggested to him as 
he entered the church, or by incidents connected with the con- 
gregation. The value of this type of introduction is of course, 
conditioned by the way in which it is done, by its naturalness, 
its good taste, and perhaps relative infrequency. But its 
pertinency and timeliness are evident at once. 

3. The approach to the theme may be through the worship. 
German preachers affect the liturgical introduction. The 
Scripture lessons or the hymn before the sermon frequently 
furnish the point of attachment. This is the more frequent 
with the extemporaneous than with the manuscript preacher. 
Those who, in their preaching, follow the order of the Chris- 
tian year, are much more likely to use the scripture lessons as 
a point of departure. Canon Liddon illustrates this in his 
Easter sermons. Trench in his advent discourse in the volume 
entitled "Westminster Sermons/' Brooks in his discourse on 
"All Saints Day" and on "Trinity Sunday." It has been the 
custom of German preachers to make the so-called homiletic 
prayer a part of the introduction to the sermon, sometimes 
preceding and sometimes following the text. When it follows 
the text it the more manifestly becomes a part of the intro- 



288 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

duction. Its object doubtless is to direct attention to the 
close connection between the sermon and the worship, and to 
accentuate the liturgical aspect of preaching. In this it ad- 
mirably succeeds. It enhances the impressiveness of the ser- 
mon and holds it to its appropriate place in worship. It is not 
altogether in harmony with the habits or tastes of American 
preachers, or with the general character of their worship, or 
of their preaching or perhaps of their theory of worship and 
of preaching. And so much the worse, one may be permitted 
to say, for the worship and for the preaching and for the 
theory. We see here how didactic or rhetorical considera- 
tions have dominated liturgical considerations in the con- 
duct of public worship. No one can hear or read the 
homiletic prayers of German preachers, like those for 
example of Schleiermacher, which one regrets to see are 
passing into desuetude, without being strongly impressed by 
them. 

4. The topical is a frequent form of introduction. It at- 
taches itself to the general thought of the theme and antici- 
pates some phase of it. The text may suggest the theme only 
in the remotest and vaguest manner possible, and it becomes 
the work of the topical introduction to bring the theme into 
manifest relation with the text. With the larger number of 
topical preachers this is perhaps the point of departure. They 
start with the general thought of the theme. Most introduc- 
tions are suggested by the theme or the text. They are fruit- 
ful sources. Bishop Brooks generally starts thus, picking up 
the text before he finishes the introduction, and adjusting it 
to the theme. Bushnell generally starts with the text rather 
than with the theme. A study of topics will be of value in 
connection with the study of the thematic or topical introduc- 
tion. A very common method of starting the topical intro- 
duction is along the line of generalization or its reverse, 
particularization. The great master of this method in our day 



THE INTRODUCTION 289 

was Phillips Brooks. Into this process he frequently and with 
good effect introduced the principle of contrast. In the ser- 
mon with the text "Unspotted from the World," the introduc- 
tion begins with a series of reflections upon the changes men 
undergo as they advance in life. The moral change in which 
they become spotted by the world is one of them. Here we 
have a contrast between the unspotted character of Jesus, 
suggested by the text, and the spotted characters of men. 
With this as a basis we are introduced to the general subject 
of "Spotted Lives." In Bishop Huntington's sermon on Re- 
vivals, entitled "Permanent Realities of Religion and Times 
of Special Religious Interest," the introduction opens with 
reflections upon the influence of names in discrediting or in 
dignifying objects. The term Revival is an illustration of this 
power of words. And this is the whole introduction. It be- 
gins with what is general and passes to what is specific. It is 
the theme, not the text, that suggests it. Analogy, which is 
always involved in generalization, furnishes a good basis for 
the topical introduction. Saurin in his introduction to a ser- 
mon from 2 Pet. 3 : 8, "One Day is with the Lord as a thou- 
sand years, etc.," on the "Eternity of God"* finds the Hebrew 
shekinah a symbol or analogue of that aspect of the Deity 
suggested by the theme. The shekinah was luminous on one 
side and opaque on the other, so is it with the eternity of God. 
It is dark in itself but bright in its practical value for our lives. 
He was accustomed to cite analogous historical instances from 
the Old Testament to illustrate the thought or principle which 
he deduced from a New Testament text, thus making the Old 
Testament support the New. Stories that contain an analogy 
are valuable for introductory work, because they are interest- 
ing concrete illustrations of principles. What better introduc- 
tion were possible for a sermon from the text "What shall it 
profit a man if he gain the world, etc.," whose theme will 
*Vol. I, Sermon II. 



290 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

naturally be the priceless worth of the human soul, than the 
Old Faust Legend? 

There is vast range for general reflection in the intro- 
duction that starts with the theme. A habit of generalizing or 
of particularizing or of tracing analogies, that is, of applying 
a general truth to specific cases or general principles to con- 
crete specific instances, or of transferring what is true in one 
realm of experience to what may be assumed to be true in 
another and analogous realm, is a good one for the preacher. 
This habit will appear in one's introductory work. Welsh 
preachers are fruitful in general reflective material. So were 
the English Puritan preachers. How often we find William 
Jay saying at the close of his introductions, "These reflections, 
my brethren, are intended to illustrate" thus and so ! 

5. The most common point of departure perhaps is the 
text, and perhaps the most valuable. The textual introduction 
has a wide range of possibilities. They are all of an explan- 
atory character, dealing with the context, with the meaning 
of terms, with the writer, the circumstances, the time, and 
place of his utterance and matters of such sort. It is a valu- 
able kind of introduction in the treatment especially of difficult 
texts and in the higher grade of didactic discourses. It clears 
away obscurities, clears up difficulties and prepares the way 
for intelligent apprehension of the significance of the theme. 
It belongs to an educative pulpit, the pulpit of men like Robert- 
son, Bushnell, Liddon, South. It is the explanatory process 
that makes clear the method of securing the theme. It takes 
the audience along with the preacher, as if he were saying 
"I want to show my hand. I want to justify my homiletic 
ways to you, so that there be no misunderstanding between us, 
and no prejudgment that I have made a mistake." It is a 
method that not only introduces the theme successfully and 
so prepares the hearer for it, but it may furnish a favorable 
introduction for the preacher himself by indicating respect 



THE INTRODUCTION 291 

for the intelligence of his hearers and a purpose to be instruc- 
tive and helpful, and perhaps by showing skill in deducing 
pertinent and striking themes. The explanatory introduction 
has wide range. Note some of its possibilities. Word- 
explanation is common. Here the meaning of the central 
or stress-word of the text is illustrated by comparing or con- 
trasting its use in other relations and connections. Bishop 
Huntington has a sermon from I Cor. 1 : 26, "Ye see your call- 
ing, brethren."* The introduction explains the different uses 
of the word "Calling," or the different spheres in which it 
is applied, advancing thus to its use in the text. Narrative ex- 
planation generally introduces the historical or biographical 
sermon and prepares the way for the lessons or reflections that 
are deducible from the material as thus presented. The im- 
plicatory explanation will direct attention to what may be sug- 
gested or intimated or implied but not explicitly stated in the 
text. Such texts for example as Acts 4: 12, "Neither is there 
Salvation in any others, etc." 

Circumstantial explanation will have reference to anything 
that heightens the significance of the text, as for example the 
character or condition of the one who speaks in the text or is 
spoken of, the time, place, occasion, object. 

The comparison or contrast of cognate passages may throw 
introductory light upon the import of the text, as for example 
Matt. 18: 15, "If thy brother sin against thee, etc., compared 
with Matt. 5 : 23, 24, "If thy brother hath ought against thee," 
etc. So also the passages relating to the power of the keys. 

A collocation of different passages illustrating various phases 
of the main thought of the text may throw light upon its 
meaning in a preliminary way: passages for example suggest- 
ing different sorts of fear may aid in understanding the mean- 
ing of the text; "The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of 
Wisdom." The introduction to Robertson's sermon on "The 



* Christian Believing and Living, Sermon I. 



292 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

Loneliness of Christ" dealing with different kinds of loneliness 
prepares the preacher to understand the better the loneliness 
of Christ. A reference to anything that is striking or peculiar 
in the text such as we find in Canon Mozley's introductions, 
starts the hearer with a new impression of it. 

A reference to the impression the text has made upon some 
well-known person, as for example Paul's words : "So then 
every one of us shall give account of himself, etc.," on Daniel 
Webster, will very likely never be forgotten. 

The use of analogy illustrates the significance of the text. 
Take the introduction to Dr. Guthrie's sermon on "Early 
Piety" from 2 Tim. 3:15, "From a child we." A man is likely 
to be what his childhood indicates. We see the soldier, the 
statesman, the poet in the boy. Nature has her prophetic 
intimations. So has religion. The theme is thus a generalized 
thought based on analogy, and the analogy is suggested by the 
text, not the theme. 

Contrast often furnishes a striking explanatory introduction, 
as in Dr. Guthrie's sermon, "The Good Fight of Faith," from 
2 Tim. 4:7. Contrast the spirit of Benhadad's boastful mes- 
sage to Ahab about his military prowess and Ahab's reply, 
"Let not him that girdeth on his armor boast himself as he 
that putteth it off," with Paul's exultation in the words of the 
text. Paul was obnoxious to no such reproach as was Ben- 
hadad. 

The text like the theme may be generalized or particularized, 
and its import thus be the more clearly seen, as in Phillips 
Brooks' sermon on "The Purpose and Use of Comfort," from 
2 Cor. 1 : 3, 4. There are different ways of desiring comfort. 
The quality of the desire will determine the worth of the com- 
fort desired. The sort of comfort Paul desired is suggested. 
Then comes an appeal to the hearer, when God comforted you, 
did you desire to use it for others, as Paul did? If so, you 
have the comfort Paul had. 



THE INTRODUCTION 293 

III. Qualities of Introduction 
I. The thought-qualities of the introduction are such as 
relate to its proper subject matter. They are qualities of 
thought that are appropriate to it as containing only intro- 
ductory material. Pertinency is one of these. The thought 
of the introduction is germane to that of the theme, or it is not 
introductory. It may be so remotely, but somehow it must 
bear upon the theme. Its starting-point may be distant, and 
its course circuitous, but at last it must reach and rest in the 
theme. Extemporaneous preachers, like Chrysostom, may 
allow themselves great range in the introduction, but they are 
sure to keep in view the objective point. That is not a proper 
introduction that is as pertinent to one theme as to another. 
The explanatory introduction is naturally most direct in its 
pertinence. It runs straight out from text to theme. It sets 
in line the whole movement of thought, and, therefore, is 
better prepared before than after the sermon. Pertinency of 
tone as well as of thought is important. The introduction is 
a promise. It should justify itself. It commits the preacher. 
It should not disappoint. 

Preliminariness is another. It introduces the subject but 
does not anticipate it. It opens the way, prepares for the dis- 
cussion, does not begin it. It does not reach over into the main 
body of the sermon and appropriate material that properly 
belongs to it. It takes up what has a preparative bearing on 
the subject, but does not discuss the subject itself. As being 
preparative, it is distinctive. Introduction, theme and discus- 
sion are not so run together that it is difficult to find the line of 
demarcation between them. The introduction should be 
known at once from its introductory quality. This is possible 
without formal and obtrusive division. 

Reversely, what belongs to the introduction cannot properly 
be smuggled over into the body of the sermon. Its work is 
to clear the ground. The explanatory introduction is pre- 



294 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

eminently the ground-clearing introduction. Robertson's 
sermon on "The Illusiveness of Life" is defective here. In- 
stead of finishing in the introduction the explanation of the 
text and fully clearing up the matter, he carries it over and re- 
introduces it in the first division of the sermon, as if he were 
dissatisfied with his preliminary exposition. He turns upon 
his track. He re-enters the harbor after reaching the open sea. 
This is particularly objectionable in a sermon whose theme 
takes us so wide afield from the original historic sense of the 
passage as this does, and that puts us upon a wholly new line 
of thought. "No step backward" is a good motto for the 
preacher. 

Coherency, or close and harmonious relation of thought 
in the introduction is another quality. "The thoughts of the 
introduction," says Claude, "must hold each other by the hand 
and have a mutual dependence and subordination." Progress 
is necessary to coherence. The introduction that moves in a 
straight line, in an orderly, progressive manner, will be sure 
to move connectedly and coherently. Bushnell's introductions, 
in all ways admirable, are especially notable for this straight 
line movement. Robertson's sermon on "Caiaphas' view of 
Vicarious Sacrifice" is a good example of the progressive, 
coherent introduction. It moves straight on, step by step, each 
successive step bringing us nearer the theme; all the parts 
support each other, and all throw light upon the coming theme. 
They are all tributary to the preacher's purpose to show 
Caiaphas' state of mind in uttering the words of the text. 

2. The form qualities of the introduction are such as relate 
to the expression of its thought. 

Concreteness is one of them. This is, indeed, a quality of 
substance as well as of form. It suggests the absence of 
abstract forms of thought and abstruse forms of expression. 
Such forms of expression are too remote for introductory 
work. In the process of discussion the preacher will find 



THE INTRODUCTION 295 

himself in the realm of abstract thought. No instructive 
preacher, however illustrative his method, can wholly evade it, 
nor should he wish to do so. But such thought, even in the 
discussion, would better be expressed in concrete terms. In 
the introduction it is of still greater importance. No hearer 
is ready or willing to start in the realm of the abstract and 
the abstruse. He is in no condition of mind for it. What is 
said here must be readily apprehended. What is said may be 
remote and for the moment obscure in its bearings, but if in 
itself readily intelligible and expressed in concrete language, 
it will awaken the greater interest. Technical exegesis may lie 
behind the expository introduction, but it should never be ex- 
pressed in technical language. A preacher should cultivate 
literary skill in interpreting his text. A skillful paraphrase, 
of which Dr. Bushnell was master, is an effective method of 
exposition. In the introduction especially a combination of 
what may be relatively remote in its bearings or even for the 
moment obscure in its meaning, with what is familiar and near 
at hand in its forms of expression and interpretation is desira- 
ble. We have a liking for what is familiar, but the merely 
familiar is the commonplace, and the commonplace does not 
attract or move us. It is true that we have a curious liking 
for what is unfamiliar and remote, provided we see, or believe 
or suspect, that it has some relation to what is known. But 
what is simply and wholly remote and unknown is so far away 
from us that it fails to influence us. It is when we associate 
what is familiar with what is relatively unfamiliar and possibly 
obscure in itself or especially in its bearings that it becomes 
interesting at once. Here lies the power of concrete language. 
One can not make what is so remote as to be unknown or un- 
intelligible interesting without associating it with something 
that is better known, or so well known as to be familiar, just 
as one can not make what is so familiar as to be commonplace 
interesting without association with what is less well known. 



296 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

A story may be in itself so familiar as to be uninterestingly 
common, but when introduced to illustrate a truth that is not 
wholly familiar or is less familiar, or for the moment remote 
in its bearings, it becomes interesting and impressive and in- 
structive. The truth takes on a new meaning, and the story 
itself has a new meaning. This is why a pertinent, well-told 
story is valuable introductory material. 

Simplicity is involved in concreteness, but may well be 
specifically considered. It is the opposite, however, not only 
of the abstract and the abstruse and the remote, the puzzling 
and obscure, but of the artificial, or perf ervid or the bombastic. 
It is associated with what is natural and genuine and self- 
poised. An utterance that seems strained and artificial or 
over-dramatic is everywhere intolerable in preaching. But it 
is especially intolerable to start with a scream or with a strut. 
One may indeed begin at high pressure. The subject, the 
occasion, the preparation may sanction or even necessitate it. 
Phillips Brooks began with a full volume of energy and kept 
it up to the end. He was emotionally full of his subject at the 
outset and it was all natural and genuine. But after all it 
was largely a matter of delivery. The introduction as read 
does not strike us as perfervid or lacking in reflective poise, 
and certainly it is perfectly simple rhetorically, The normal 
movement of an introduction is from a simple, quiet, self- 
possessed and possibly somewhat reserved beginning to an 
increase of emotional vigor. A natural deliberation and self- 
poise, clear, distinct articulation and a simple, natural, 
perspicuous type of diction always make a favorable impres- 
sion at the outset. Robertson sometimes closed his sermon 
in a tempest, but his introductions illustrate the power of sim- 
plicity, of reflective deliberation and self-mastery. 

Propriety is associated with simplicity. It is a question not 
only of good literary or rhetorical, but of good ethical taste 
and judgment. Nothing can redeem a sermon that starts with 



THE INTRODUCTION 297 

a rhetorical blunder, which is often nothing less than a moral 
blunder. If a preacher is going to blunder, if he must enter 
the abyss of rhetorical indecency, he would better postpone it. 
The sensational preacher, in his effort to be striking, is likely 
to enter the abyss at once. It is the initial sin. He falls from 
rhetorical grace, like Adam, at the start. No man in effort to 
win attention and to be impressive has any vocation to become 
an offense to those whose mental, aesthetic and moral tastes 
and judgments are entitled to respect. 

Brevity is in part a matter of form, and economy of diction 
is tributary to it, as diffuseness is tributary to prolixity. Brev- 
ity is necessary in introductory work, just because it is intro- 
ductory. As to limits, no rule can be given. To fix upon 
one-eighth of a sermon, or one-twelfth, as is sometimes done, 
is arbitrary. Preachers vary in this matter in their own preach- 
ing. Bushnell's introductions vary from one-eighth to one- 
twentieth. Guthrie's, in one of his volumes, from one-fifth 
to one-half. Robertson's from one-third to one-sixteenth. 
The preachers of former days had the long introduction. 
Tillotson and South and Barrow in the seventeenth century 
were exceptions among their comtemporaries in the matter of 
brevity and their influence in this regard, as in others, was re- 
formatory. Modern preachers affect the short introduction. 
The evangelistic discourse naturally has a shorter introduction 
than the pastoral discourse. The proper mean is between an 
extreme of abruptness and an extreme of prolixity. The re- 
flective quality of the introduction tends to condensation of 
style and thus to brevity. 

No adherence to formal rules will secure good introductory 
work, although intelligent appropriation of rhetorical princi- 
ples may be effective. Nor will imitation do it. The work is 
wrought largely in unconsciousness of rules or models. Still 
both may be of value, especially in the early period of one's 
ministry. The study of good modern introductory work is 



298 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

of special value. But it is after all by constant and intelligent 
practice that one at last becomes wholly unfettered and spon- 
taneous in his work. 



CHAPTER II 

THE THEME 

I. Its Significance and Importance 
The theme is the subject in its undeveloped form. It is 
the germ of the sermon. Like all germs, it is complex, con- 
taining more than a single element. It consists of a complex 
of thoughts out of which in his discussion the preacher brings 
such varieties as are adapted to the realization of his object. 
The theme may always be put in the form of a definite, com- 
plex statement. It contains explicitly or implicitly a proposi- 
tion. Such proposition always contains the unified elements 
of complex thought. Unity in complexity is, therefore, the 
characteristic and proper test of a theme. The title of a ser- 
mon may not be its theme. It may be much more comprehen- 
sive and indefinite than the theme. A single word may be a 
proper title, but it is never a proper theme. We suggest the 
unity of the theme when we say that the sermon can have but 
one subject. We suggest the definiteness of the theme, when 
we say that it should be so conceived and stated as accurately 
to condition the limits of its treatment. We suggest the com- 
plexity of the theme when we say that the sermon should dis- 
cuss more than a single phase of it. We suggest the complete- 
ness of the theme as a unified whole when we say that it should 
contain all that is to be discussed in the sermon. These may 
be called the logical qualities of the theme, or those qualities 
that are involved in its thought relations. 

There are various terms used to designate the complex 
thought that lies at the foundation of the sermon. They all 
in some way suggest its unity. The most comprehensive term 



3 oo THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

is subject, i. e., what lies under the whole sermon, the one 
foundation on which all rests. It is too broad a term. The 
subject is not always the exact theme. Topic is too narrow a 
term. It is the place where all the elements of thought in the 
discussion are found and from which they are derived, the 
storehouse where they are all gathered, and, as coming from 
this one source, they are all interrelated and so are legitimate 
to the discussion. But properly the topic is not identical with 
the theme, for it is generally, although not always, applied to 
a single phase of the theme. 

Proposition is too distinctive a term. It is what is set be- 
fore the preacher as the one object of his homiletic activity. 
But technically the proposition is a particular kind of theme, 
i. e., one stated in logical form, and with reference to logical 
proof. Theme is at once definite and comprehensive. It 
is what is laid down as the single basis of the sermon, 
what the sermon is built on. All these terms in- 
volve the conceptions of unity and complexity. Various 
phrases also suggest this unity and complexity. The preacher 
will speak "about" something. His thoughts will gather 
around some centre, and in all their complexities, they are 
held together in unity. He will address the congregation 
"upon" or "on" some subject. That is, his discussion will 
rest upon a single foundation. He will speak "of" or "from" 
such and such a text or theme. What he says will, therefore, 
have unity of source. His discussion is "concerning" this or 
that. It is the one objective point with which his mental 
activity concerns itself. Centralized thought is suggested by 
fell these forms of expression. We use them freely without 
reflecting upon their significance. But we use them legitimately 
only as we are faithful to their implications. Something is 
accomplished when this principle of thematic unity is duly and 
securely fixed. It is a bad thing to be obliged to say of a 
sermon what the Frenchman said of his book in the title given 



THE THEME 301 

it; "Sur — je ne sais quoi." Upon — I know not what. Whate- 
ley says :* "Experience shows that it is by no means uncom- 
mon for a young and uninstructed writer to content himself 
with such a vague and indistinct view of the point he is to 
aim at — that the whole train of his reasoning is in consequence 
affected with a corresponding perplexity, obscurity and loose- 
ness." This may be true as regards the subject as well as the 
object of the discussion. He criticises also,* as a common fault 
of such writers, "entering upon too wide a field of discussion," 
and imagining "that because they are treating of one thing, 
they are discussing one question." Cardinal Newmanf on the 
same general subject speaks as follows; "I would go the 
length of recommending a preacher to place a distinct proposi- 
tion before him, such as he can write down in a form of words 
and limit his discussion by it and to aim in all he says to bring 
it out and nothing else. Nothing is so fatal to the effect of a 
sermon as preaching on three or four subjects at once." He 
illustrates from the supposed case of an immature college boy 
who has placed before him the task of writing upon the 
proposition "Fortes fortuna adjuvat," and detaches the word 
"fortuna" and makes that the basis of his thesis. "Fortuna is 
not a subject," he says. "It would have been very cruel to 
tell a boy to write on fortune ; it would have been like asking 
him his opinion of things in general. Fortune is good or bad, 
capricious, unexpected, ten thousand things all at once, and 
one of them as much as another. Ten thousand things may be 
said of it; give me one of them and I will write upon it. I 
can not write on more than one," etc., etc. "Fortes fortuna ad- 
juvat" is a proposition; it states a certain general principle, 
and this is just what an ordinary boy would be sure to miss. 
This is doubtless instruction for the primary grade. But ob- 
servation proves that it is pertinent to those who are supposed 



* Elements of Rhetoric, page 54. 

t Lectures on University Subjects, page 100 ff. 



302 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

to have advanced far beyond it. To get a proper theme, then, 
a definite, complex, unified thought, capable, although it need 
not always be done, of being put into the form of a proposition, 
— this is an important step in sermon preparation. A process 
of analysis may be necessary in order to secure this. One 
must find out the elements of thought that lie in the text, 
must detach these elements, or such of them as one may wish 
to select for use and then gather them by recombination into 
some central, all embracing, unified thought. The product 
of such analysis and synthesis should be a proper theme. If 
one gets his theme independently of the text, some- 
thing of the same process may be necessary. An 
analysis and synthesis of both text and subject are com- 
bined. The theme will then take shape and color from the 
elements of both. 

The importance of the theme can not be measured by the 
space it occupies in the organism of the sermon. Like the 
heart or brain in the human body, it is to be measured, not by 
its size, but by its function. Prof. Phelps in his "Theory of 
Preaching," devotes eighty-two pages to the discussion of it; 
sixty pages to the plan and not quite thirty pages to the de- 
velopment of the sermon. That is, the theme receives more 
than one-third the amount of attention that is given to the plan 
and almost three times as much attention as that given to the 
development. The entire discussion is over-elaborate perhaps. 
There may also be a disproportion in it. But at any rate it 
suggests the centrality, the vitality, and the supreme signifi- 
cance of the theme. 

II. Its Formulation 
This question receives but little attention in the preaching of 
our day, and seemingly it is regarded as unimportant. Reac- 
tion against the formal methods of a former period and de- 
votion to the offhand, businesslike method with which we are 



THE THEME 303 

all so familiar largely accounts for this. But as against all 
this I insist upon its importance. From what has been said 
it may be inferred that the theme should at any rate take 
very definite form in the mind of the preacher. With 
respect to this question the following suggestions are 
pertinent. 

1. The theme should have a prominence proportionate to 
its importance. A distinctness of statement or a defmiteness 
of suggestion or intimation adequate to a clear apprehension 
on the part of the hearer is the chief demand. One may 
put his audience in possession of his theme in a great variety 
of ways. It may be done by formal announcement or by 
facile intimation. It may be done propositionally or rhetoric- 
ally, in exceptional cases, following the inductive method, it 
may be done at the end of the sermon, or following the de- 
ductive method, which is the more common homiletic method, 
at the beginning. Facility and variety in the method of pro- 
jecting the theme are desirable. It is well to awaken the 
curiosity and inquisitiveness of the hearer in one's approach 
to his theme. But however it may be done it should be done 
with sufficient defmiteness for clear apprehension, and how- 
ever one may reach his theme the hearer should know that he 
has reached it, and should know what it is. If a preacher 
doesn't propose to tell his hearers what he is going to talk 
about, if he puts upon them the task of finding out for them- 
selves, let them so understand it. But if he attempts to get 
his theme before them, it is a proper thing for him to succeed 
in doing it. In deliberative and judicial oratory the exact 
question in discussion is of some importance. Respect for 
himself as a public speaker, for his profession, for his au- 
dience, for his case or question, respect for his success in carry- 
ing his case or question, impels the secular orator to exactness 
of conception and of statement. Is Christian oratory less 
important? Respect for the truth and regard for effec- 



304 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

tiveness accentuate the demand upon the preacher. When 
he undertakes to get his subject before his audience, 
he should succeed, so that there be no misapprehension 
about it. 

Especially necessary is this whenever there is liability to mis- 
apprehension by reason of defect in the hearer. Immaturity, 
ignorance, dullness, inattention and indifference are prolific of 
misunderstanding, and hostility may readily pervert the 
preacher's meaning. It is singular with what facility even in- 
telligent hearers misinterpret the preacher. There are but 
few preachers that have not had startling experiences in this 
matter. Definite formal statement is desirable whenever one 
anticipates such liability to mistake. For the sake even of a 
small section of the congregation one is bound to clearness of 
statement. One may respect his audience without over-taxing 
it. It is idle to imagine that one may successfully throw the 
responsibility upon the congregation, or that they will resent 
the preacher's solicitude for clarity of statement. The 
preacher is responsible that the hearer know just what he is 
going to talk about. 

Difficult subjects demand careful statement, subjects that 
are in themselves weighty and demand careful discussion, or 
that have difficult texts that require careful explanation, or 
that are complicated or puzzling, or that for whatever reason 
require close attention. Definite statement may even be con- 
ducive to rhetorical effectiveness. 

It is generally assumed that the textual sermon may treat 
the theme with great freedom. But if the content of the text 
is exceptionally complex, it may well be gathered into a theme 
for the sake of unity. Robertson's themes are always included 
in his topics. The topics cover the theme well enough, but not 
.infrequently it would be better if the theme were detached 
from the divisions and definitely stated. Then at a glance 
theme and divisions would vindicate each other. 



THE THEME 305 

It is also commonly taken for granted that the expository- 
sermon needs no theme. But if the text content is large and 
complex it were better if it were subsumed under one central 
and inclusive thought. It is the statement of the theme that 
differentiates the expository sermon from the homily. The 
homily needs no theme, for it does not discuss one subject. 
But it no longer satisfies the needs of the pulpit. The rambling 
character of expository preaching, which is one of the chief 
objections against it, would be obviated by the formulation of 
a theme that contains its entire material, e. g., James 1 : 19 — 
21,26. Theme : "The sins of the tongue." 1. Source, 2. Result, 
3. Corrective. 

A definite conception and statement of the theme is of value 
first, in keeping the sermon in good form. It is the more 
likely thus to be kept in the form of an address as distinguished 
from that of an essay. At any rate, it imposes an additional 
motive upon the preacher to keep within limits in his discus- 
sion. One feels the pressure of necessity to do what one is 
advertised to do. Secondly, it is of value in enabling the 
hearer the better to retain the sermon. It puts him in definite 
possession of the subject at the outset. All embarrassment of 
uncertainity is thus avoided. Holding it at the start, one 
keeps it to the end and tests the sermon by it at every step. 
This may well offset all minor objections against the formality 
of a definite statement. It should certainly discredit all caprice 
and indifference about it. It should be no weighty objection 
to the homiletic free lance that preachers of a former period 
were careful to state their themes. Homiletic standards have 
changed and the abandonment of doctrinal preaching doubt- 
less lessens somewhat, the demand for formal statement. But 
a rhetorical or literary taste that should discredit care in get- 
ting important subjects somehow before the audience would 
be shallow and meretricious. Rhetorical facility and effec- 
tiveness are not dependent upon a slack grip of one's 



306 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

subject. The educative preacher will treat his theme with 
respect. 

2. But definiteness of apprehension is not unconditionally- 
dependent upon formal statement. In unelaborate discourse, 
elaborate statement is never necessary. Facile intimation may 
be more appropriate. Formal statement would seem gratuitous 
and perhaps pretentious. 

The Text may adequately suggest the theme. If it is short, 
simple, clear and presents at once a definite complex thought, 
it is all that is needed. It would be more than needless to 
formulate a theme from the words, "Christ who is our life," 
or the words "One thing is needful." An offhand suggestion 
in rhetorical form might be worth while, but even this is 
needless. 

Dr. Guthrie generally lets the text suggest his theme, e. g., 
Hosea 7: 9, "Gray hairs are here and there upon him, etc." 
Title; "Neglected warnings." This would be a good sugges- 
tion of the theme. But the preacher assumes that the text has 
done the work, and there is no stated theme at all. This is a 
case where the "final theme" might well be substituted for 
the "casual theme" if one were to suggest a theme at all, i. e., 
the object rather than the subject of the sermon might be 
stated, e. g., "It is my purpose to remind you of the danger of 
unheeded admonition." But there is no need even of this. The 
text is sufficient. Ps. 130:4, "There is forgiveness with Thee 
that thou mayest be feared." The title would be a good theme. 
"Forgiveness and fear." But Dr. Guthrie does not avail him- 
self of it. He points out in the introduction the apparent in- 
congruity between forgiveness and fear and attaches himself 
at once to the text with the words; "In opening up the subject 
of the text, I observe," etc. Is. 59: 1, "Behold the Lord's hand 
is not shortened," etc. The introduction takes up the thought 
of change. But God does not change, and it concludes thus : 
"Therefore, speaking of Him, the prophet says 'Behold' " etc. 



THE THEME 307 

The text as thus repeated together with the introduction fur- 
nishes a sufficient basis for the discussion. The title would 
make a good statement of the theme. But Dr. Guthrie is too 
offhand to utilize it. His texts, however, are generally simple 
and clear and readily suggest his subjects. 

The introduction may adequately do the work of announce- 
ment, especially if it be the expository introduction. Canon 
Liddon generally makes his introductions do this work. His 
texts are simple, his subjects come obviously from them, and 
his introductions are explanatory and succeed in getting the 
thought discussed clearly before his hearers. As we have seen, 
Dr. Guthrie relies upon his introductions as well as texts in 
this interest. So does Bishop Brooks. Here is the value of 
good introductory work. 

The occasion may furnish the theme. A funeral or a memo- 
rial discourse speaks for itself. Such discourses have always 
been characterized by homiletic freedom. Evangelistic dis- 
courses are less dependent than pastoral discourses upon the 
formulated theme. Direct impression rather than instruction 
is the object. It is when we wish to make an impression in- 
directly, i. e., through mental and moral judgments, that we 
are careful to formulate the theme. Here we deal with the 
subject in its related thought-elements. In the evangelistic 
sermon, where the text is used for direct application rather 
than for instruction a statement of the object may be better 
than a statement of the subject. 

III. Methods of Statement 
All methods are included in the comprehensive division of 

rhetorical and logical or propositional. We will consider them 

in order. 

1. The rhetorical method of statement is non-propositional 

It contains no definite expression of judgment. It is adapted 

to such discussion as seeks impression by rhetorical methods 



308 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

as distinguished from impression by argument, dialectic or 
logic. Hence called the rhetorical method, e. g., Heb. 3:19. 
"So we see that they were not able to enter in (to rest) be- 
cause of unbelief." The unrest of an unbelieving Heart. 
Matt. 16 : 26. "For what shall a man be profited," etc. The 
priceless worth of the Higher Life. Hosea 7 : 9. "Gray hairs 
are here and there upon him," etc. Neglected warnings. Is. 
59: 1. "Behold the Lord's hand is not shortened," etc. The 
Undecaying Power and Grace of God. Acts 10: 19. "While 
Peter thought on the Vision," etc. Visions and Tasks. John 
12 136. "Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, whither goest 
thou," etc. The Withheld Completions of Life. 

2. The logical method is propositional. It is a formal ex- 
pression of judgment and calls for proof. It is the method 
that is adapted to argumentative processes. The discussion is 
responsible to bring out the relations of thought contained in 
the proposition. Hence called logical : e. g., "Unbelief is a 
source of unrest. I am here to remind you that there is dan- 
ger in unheeded admonition. There are no limits to the Power 
and Grace of God. Vision realizes its purpose only as trans- 
lated into Task. Human life never realizes its full fruition." 
These are formal expressions of judgment, They call for 
some sort of evidence. It may be argumentative or illus- 
trative, according to the nature and object of the discussion. 
The simpler subjects are naturally illustrated. But no theme 
stated propositionally should fail of support by some sort 
of evidence. The thought-relation between subject and predi- 
cate must be maintained, e. g., the thought-relation in the 
above-mentioned theme between unbelief and unrest of 
soul. The possible range in the discussion of subjects 
thus stated is very great and the possible limitations of 
the subject varied, e. g., the reasons why unrest follows 
unbelief, the forms of such unrest, the kind of unbelief, 
whether mental or moral, that produce unrest. As to the 



THE THEME 309 

method of discussion, one may argue from the constitution 
of the human soul or may illustrate from example and ex- 
perience. The introduction will lead up to the particular 
theme that is chosen and the specific statement of the theme 
will fix the general direction in which the sermon will 
move. 

3. The two forms may be stated affirmatively, negatively 
or interrogatively. The title to one of Dr. Bushnell's ser- 
mons, "Christ waiting to find room," illustrates the affirm- 
ative rhetorical method. His statement of the theme; "The 
very impressive fact that Jesus could not find room in the 
world, and has never yet been able to find it" illustrates 
the logical negative method. "No room for Christ" il- 
lustrates the rhetorical negative method, and "Jesus waited 
and is waiting still to find room" the logical affirmative 
method. "No room for Christ?" and "Why is it that Christ 
found no room and has never yet found room?" may il- 
lustrate the interrogative method. "The unrest of the un- 
believing heart." "Unbelief is the mother of unrest." "The 
impossibility of rest for the unbelieving heart." "There is 
no rest for the unbelieving heart." "Why unbelief means 
unrest." "What rest for the unbelieving heart?" These state- 
ments still further illustrate the affirmative, negative and 
interrogative forms of the two methods. Each, it is evident, 
will, if properly developed, result in a distinctive discussion. 
The statement will condition the plan and development. 
The affirmative is the more common form. It is general 
and comprehensive in character. The other forms are more 
specific. The negative form calls for a negative discussion 
corresponding. The interrogative form is of value in dis- 
cussing difficult or delicate or offensive themes. It may 
encourage a certain delicacy of treatment, and may result 
in a more persuasive type of preaching. It may also condi- 
tion a more definite appeal. If these questions of form 



310 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

were more carefully considered, it is possible that preach- 
ing would be more varied, more attractive and more 
persuasive. 

4. It is evident at once that the two forms are inter- 
changeable. The possibility of such interchange is the mark 
of a proper theme. The rhetorical form always contains 
a potential proposition. 

5. The choice of form will depend largely upon the char- 
acter and object of the sermon. But the quality of the text, 
the occasion, the audience, or the tendencies or capacities 
of the preacher are also considerations to be taken into 
account. 

6. The points of relative value in the two forms may 
well be considered. 

The rhetorical form presents the theme in the most com- 
prehensive and indefinite manner; the logical form more 
limitedly and definitely. If one wishes range he will choose 
the former, if close limits, the latter. 

The rhetorical form admits of greater variety of treatment. 
Range conditions variety. The only assignable limit is the 
nature and object of the sermon. A great variety of 
methods of treatment or of topics is, therefore, available. 
Take once more Heb. 3 : 19. Note the possible methods, 
e. g., discussion by reflection or deduction of inferential topics, 
by illustration and example, by explication or analysis, by 
practical application, by the interrogative process. The 
logical form, because it invites a more definite formal dis- 
cussion and hence limits the preacher, will not so readily 
yield itself to a wide range and variety in treatment. By 
limiting freedom, however, it may secure a more definite, 
concentrated and vigorous discussion, and so secure a 
more decisive result. Some themes demand closer treat- 
ment than others and some sermons demand more definite 
and specific aim than others. 



THE THEME 311 

The rhetorical form is adapted to the simpler class of 
sermons, the logical to the weightier class. No preacher of 
good taste or judgment would think of putting into prep- 
ositional form a theme from the text, "One thing is need- 
ful/' The text, although in the form of a proposition is 
so simple that it calls for discussion by way of reflection 
rather than argumentative elaboration. The rhetorical form 
is the only one admissible. 

The rhetorical form, it follows in -this connection, is 
adapted to what is called suggestive preaching, i.e., preach- 
ing in which the material is used indirectly by some proc- 
ess of reflection or illustration, or practical application, 
rather than by an elaborate process of discussion. Perhaps 
most Biblical texts are best adapted to this form. Revela- 
tion does not come in propositional form. The Bible 
is peculiarly adapted to the work of teaching by sug- 
gestion. The larger number of preachers in our day, who 
are known as suggestive preachers, choose the rhetori- 
cal form. On the other hand the logical form readily 
lends itself to the doctrinal or elaborately and closely 
didactic type of preaching, and especially to such sub- 
jects as deal with theological difficulties that must be 
cleaned up. 

It follows that the rhetorical form is adapted to sermons 
that seek popular impression. This because they deal con- 
cretely and suggestively with the truth. But much depends 
upon the preacher. The preaching of Dr. Bushnell illus- 
trates the possibility of discussing propositional themes in 
popular form. His themes are generally thrown into the 
logical form, and yet the discussion is highly attractive. 
This because he was a rhetorician as well as logician. Most 
preaching of this sort, however, as illustrated by the preach- 
ing of New England, has been relatively deficient in popular 
quality. Even the preaching of Bushnell would be re- 



312 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

garded in our day as too solid and elaborate for the aver- 
age audience. 

The rhetorical form in unskillful hands may involve it- 
self in diffusiveness and ineffectiveness of treatment. This 
because it is wide-ranging. Reversely, the logical form by 
limiting surface or lateral range may force the preacher 
inward and downward and so result in a more incisive 
and intensive and effective treatment. He who is forced 
to dig within a limited range for what he gets is likely to 
work the more intensely. 

There is a large number of passages that readily suggest 
the exact rhetorical form demanded. Some of them are 
fragments or incomplete grammatical sentences : e. g., Luke 
10:42, The one thing needful. 2 Pet. 1:11, The abundant 
entrance. John 20: 11, 12, Angels of hope at the tomb of 
the risen Lord. I John 3: 2, The hidden Glory of the Sons 
of God. Eph. 3: 8, Small saints or spiritual dwarfage. Acts 
18: 15, The courage of Thankfulness. 2 Tim. 4: 7, The Good 
Fight. From such texts one would hardly think of de- 
veloping an elaborate propositional discussion. 

The two forms are often combined and with good effect. 
Dr. Bushnell often does this. It is in fact one of his hom- 
iletic peculiarities, e. g., Job 32 : 8. "But there is a spirit 
in man, etc." Theme; "My subject is The spirit in man' 
or what is the same, the fact that we are, as being spirit 
permeable and inspirable by the Almighty." John 6:30, "Ye 
also have seen me and believe not." Theme. "I propose 
a discourse on the reason of faith, or to show how it is that 
we, as intelligent beings, are called to believe and how, as 
sinners, we can in the nature of things be saved only by 
faith." This combines a statement of the general subject 
with the specific line of discussion and the specific object 
of the sermon. It suggests indefinitely the general region 
in which we are to travel and then the particular road we 



THE THEME 313 

are to take in the journey and it suggests also the object 
of the journey. It suggests the generic thought-material 
and the particular use to be made of it, in the discussion. 
It is as if Dr. Bushnell would say in the sermon on the rea- 
son of faith ; as regards the general thought, the general 
subject matter of my discourse, I rely upon your intellectual 
interest as I attempt to clear it up and justify my theme. 
But I assume that you have a moral interest in it as well. 
I wish, therefore, to discuss it in such way as will leave not 
only a mental impression of the reasonableness of the sub- 
ject, but I wish to do it in such way as will leave as strong 
a moral impression as possible. I want to prove, with refer- 
ence to practical interests that we as rational beings are 
called upon to believe and that as sinners we must believe. 
Here the rhetorial form yields what is known as the "causal 
theme," i. e., the theme as containing the general subject, 
which' is the cause or the source of the sermon and which 
furnishes its material of thought, while the logical form 
yields what is known as the "final theme," i.e., the theme 
as conditioned and shaped in its statement with reference 
to the final purpose of the sermon. 

IV. Qualities of Form 

The literary form in which the theme is expressed is 
not without importance. Its close connection with its 
thought-qualities or logical-qualities renders it the more 
important. There are four of such form-qualities that should 
be considered. 

1. Precision of form. Many otherwise good preachers are 
careless with respect to exactness of statement. An exactness 
of statement corresponding to exactness of conception is what 
is demanded. A statement may be in exact English and yet 
may be inexact as related to the theme and the discussion. 
Canon Mosley sometimes fails here : e. g., Matt. 5 : 20. "Ex- 



314 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

cept your righteousness exceed, etc/' A sermon on the 
Pharisees. Theme; "With these introductory remarks I 
come to the subject of the text, viz., the Gospel language 
relating to the Pharisees." This theme is not accurately 
suggestive of the text or of the discussion. It is too large 
for the text. It would not be an appropriate subject for 
a sermon anyway. It would be unprofitable for practical 
purposes. Who would venture to devote an entire sermon 
to an exposition of Scripture passages relating to the 
Pharisees? Canon Mozley certainly does not venture to do 
it. This is not the subject discussed. It is rather some 
characteristics of the Pharisees. Some of these character- 
istics are suggested by some of the declarations of the 
Gospels, but the Gospel language about them is a very un- 
important factor in the discussion. The sermon is in fact 
a skillful analysis of Pharisaic character. The terms of the 
theme, therefore, do not accurately state the character 
of the discussion and a certain confusion is introduced at 
just that point when clearness and exactness are de- 
manded. The statement may be grammatically exact, but 
it is not logically exact. It is not an exactness of state- 
ment that corresponds to exactness of conception. If a 
preacher aims, as every effective preacher will, to get hold of 
one clear, definite idea, or to let it get hold of him, and 
to set it forth with all possible clearness and distinctness, 
his theme is pretty likely to be definite and the statement 
of it will have an exactness corresponding to this definite- 
ness. Division of the elements of the theme in connec- 
tion with its statement promotes definiteness and 
precision, for the topics must be clearly justified by the theme 
at the outset, e. g., a sermon by Prof. George Shepard from 
John 1:4,* "And the word was made flesh," etc. Theme: "I 
shall touch in a rapid, discursive way some of the items that 



* Sermon XX. 



THE THEME 315 

go to make up the completeness, the infinity of the glory 
of Christ — greatness — mystery — condescension — love — 
wealth — power — achievement." These "items" are topics 
of the theme, and their statement promotes exactness. A 
combination of the rhetorical and logical forms also 
promotes exactness, as illustrated by Dr. Bushnell's 
preaching. 

2. Simplicity or unelaborateness of form, i. e., gram- 
matical simplicity. The rhetorical form is likely to be the sim- 
pler, although not as of course. The logical form, however, 
as being propositional, demanding exceptional exactness and 
calling for thorough discussion, is likely to be fuller and 
more elaborate. But here too simplicity of statement is 
desirable. Non-technical concrete language is simple, and 
such may well be the language of the theme. Thus we find 
it in preachers like Bishop Brooks, e. g., the sermon whose 
title is "The man with one talent." Theme; "Let us speak 
today about the one talented men, the men who are crushed 
and enfeebled by a sense of their own insignificance." This 
is not a concise statement, nor rhetorically climacteric 
("crushed and enfeebled" !) , but it is like most of the preacher's 
statements, straightforward and business-like, although they 
are sometimes needlessly diffuse and complex and once 
in a while careless. 

3. Compactness is a quality that promotes strength and 
possibly vividness of impression. Short themes, like short 
texts, are striking. Long, elaborate statements may be 
complicated and obscure and so unimpressive, e. g., Bishop 
Huntington's sermon from Rev. 2: 17.* Theme; "Let us 
divide and state in their order the principal points of Chris- 
tian truth, which seem to start for our practical instruction 
and encouragement out of this mystical promise of the 
Apocalypse." This is needlessly diffuse. Why not some 



* Christian Believing and Living, Sermon XIV page 260. 



316 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

concise suggestion like this: Let us consider some of the 
lessons from the mystical stone. The best preachers often 
fail here. Even that master of compact style, Prof. George 
Shepard: e. g., Luke n 41. "Give alms, etc."* A missionary 
sermon on giving. Title ; "The Moral Discipline of Giving." 
Theme; "I come to this, then as the main topic of my 
discussion; giving of what God may have given us, as a 
means of disciplining, purifying, elevating the character. 
And I might speak of this discipline as both retrospective 
and prospective." This is too diffuse and elaborate. The title 
is a good theme. 

4. Gracefulness is a rhetorical quality in the statement of 
the theme, little cultivated by American preachers, but in 
which German preachers are proficient. Kreummacher's 
theme, "The Love that is above mother Love," will illus- 
trate this. Preachers of the Latin Church, e. g., Leo the 
Great, were accustomed to give their themes rhythmically. 
Claus Harms, the popular German preacher, followed this 
custom and the German, like the Latin assonance, is well 
fitted for graceful impression. English preachers, like Wil- 
liam Jay and earlier the Puritan preachers, cultivated this. 
We find a trace of it in Mr. Spurgeon, e. g., a sermon heard 
by the writer from Rev. 1:18, "I am he that liveth and was 
dead, etc." Theme; "The Power of the Keys and the Key 
of the Power." Figurative texts or texts used figuratively 
are conducive to felicity of statement, e.g., John 19:41, 
"Now, in the place where he was crucified there was a 
garden and in the garden a tomb, etc." Theme; "The Grave 
in the Garden of Life." Such statements of course will call for 
a corresponding felicity of style in the treatment of the 
theme. Sensational preachers overwork felicity and it be- 
comes grotesque, e. g., the late Dr. Talmadge, and Rowland 
Hill of Surrey Chapel, London. But it is as bad to err 



* Sermon XI, page 122. 



THE THEME 317 

on the side of the prosiac dullness and common place as 
on that of extravagance and grotesqueness. A man of 
literary taste and rhetorical skill will cultivate felicity of 
statement. It is an important element in suggestive 
preaching. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE OUTLINE 

I. Its Significance 
The outline is the expansion of the theme into its dif- 
ferent centres or groups of thought. It is the process by 
which the theme as the germ of the sermon begins to grow 
and develop. As a result of this process every part should 
find its proper place in the organism of the sermon, as in 
the development of any organism every part should find 
the place that belongs to it. Here we have the beginning of 
structural form. Without it, we have only a germ or a 
structureless mass of homiletic protoplasm. Changing the 
figure, and, after the manner of the classical rhetoricians, 
using a military term, the division is a part of the dis- 
position (dispositio), i. e., it belongs to the scheme or dis- 
tribution of parts. It suggests an arrangement of troops 
in line of battle. The success of the battle is conditioned 
largely by the skillful arrangement of forces, and the suc- 
cess of preaching is conditioned in part by the skillful ar- 
rangement of the elements of the subject. It is like the 
skill of a general in handling his troops, each man being put 
where he belongs and doing his duty at his post. We use 
a variety of terms to designate the partition or division 
of the elements of the theme. It is the "plan" of the ser- 
mon, i. e., the arrangement of the different groups or centres 
of thought contained in the theme, in accordance with some 
scheme of arrangement so as to shape the discussion into 
a complete whole, as we shape a building into architectural 



THE OUTLINE 319 

unity in accordance with an architectural plan. We speak, 
therefore, of the architecture of the sermon. 

It is the "scheme," or varying the thought to make the 
notion of unity and order the more emphatic, it is the "skele- 
ton," suggesting an imitation of nature's most symmetrical 
work. The divisions are the "heads" of the sermon. They 
suggest the prominence with which the groups of thought 
should stand out to the hearer's apprehension in the line 
of development. They are those chief centres of thought, 
in the content of the sermon, that contain all subordinate 
elements and, as it were, stand above them as the head above 
the body. 

With like emphasis we call them "points" using nature's 
definitiveness of outline to suggest the definiteness of out- 
line that should mark the progress of the development of 
the sermon or that should characterize its structural form, 
i. e., they are prominent features of the subject that jut out 
into view like salient points to mark the line or course of 
thought. We might use Coleridge's term and call them 
"landing places." The discussion is a stream of thought. 
The divisions or "heads" are islands in the stream. The 
preacher launches out from his point of departure and heads 
toward these different landing-places in his course, passing 
from one to another, till the last is reached and the course is 
ended. They are "pauses," they are "rests" that mark 
progress. They are "mile-stones" that mark the stages 
of the journey. All these terms in their essential significance 
suggest the nature of the work and by their variety per- 
haps suggest its importance. Orderly method in the de- 
velopment of the sermon is the prevailing suggestion, a 
method that conforms to the relations of thought and to the 
laws of the soul's action. With this is included the notions 
of unity and progress in the discussion. These qualities 
are necessary not only to clearness but are also conducive 



320 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

even to force and gracefulness as elements of rhetorical 
effectiveness in the discussion. 

II. The Methods of Outline 

There are two chief methods of distributing the elements 
of the text or the theme, which have already been brought 
to our attention. They are the textual and the topical, or 
the analytic and the synthetic, as they are sometimes called. 
The former analyzes the elements of the text and distributes 
them as textual topics in the divisions of the sermon. The 
latter secures a theme from the text by a synthesis of its 
elements, or by a synthesis of thoughts suggested by it, but 
which may have a relative independence of it and then dis- 
tributes these elements under certain topics or rubrics of 
thought. Thus the textual method deals directly with the 
elements of the text and distributes them and them only as 
topics throughout the sermon. The topical method deals 
indirectly with the text and directly with the theme, dis- 
tributing its elements as topics in relative independence of 
the text. The two methods result in two very different types 
of preaching. Success in both methods presupposes train- 
ing in them. 

Let us examine them. 

i. With respect to the textual method, a few general sug- 
gestions relative to its use may be of value. 

The character of the text is the first regulative considera- 
tion. ^ A passage that is complex in its content of thought 
lends itself readily to the textual method. The passage that 
is short and simple and closely unified in its content of 
thought is better adapted to topical treatment. 

The textual method is adapted to the simpler subjects 
and to the relatively uninstructed and uncultured class of 
hearers. It is a simple method of preaching, dealing, as 
it does, in an unartistic way, with the explanation and 



THE OUTLINE 321 

applications of the elements of the text and requires chiefly 
facility in popular exposition and practical suggestion. The 
topical method is adapted to the weightier subjects, to the 
more elaborate discussion and to the more cultivated audi- 
ence. It exacts upon the artistic skill of the preacher. 

It is a method that is easily mastered. It is, therefore, 
of value to a hard-worked preacher whose productive powers 
are heavily taxed. The topical sermon reacts more severely 
upon the inventive powers and success in it is the more 
difficult 

It is an important consideration that it is the Biblical 
method distinctively. The better modern knowledge of the 
Bible invites the preacher to cultivate it. The topical method 
admits, even demands, wider range, and it may be a possi- 
ble range widely remote from the Biblical field of thought. 
In many cases it proves itself to be a very helpful and sug- 
gestive method of practical preaching. The thought basis 
lies immediately before the preacher and stimulates his in- 
ventive powers. The topical sermon may be the more 
educative type of sermon, but, as presupposing the more 
weighty and difficult class of subjects, more heavily taxes 
the preacher's inventive power. 

The textual method may be easily overworked, in de- 
ducing thought from the text by remote processes of sug- 
gestion. The preacher may easily impose upon the text, 
or smuggle into it, what does not belong to it. There may 
be a temptation to over-press every clause of the text and 
as a result the whole sermon may suggest the strain of un- 
reality. In the topical sermon the chief point of pressure 
upon the text where it may be subjected to an overstrain, 
is in deducing the theme from it. 

A lack of unity of thought is one of the possible, and 
easily possible, infelicities of the textual method. But the 
formulation of a theme that will cover the thought content of 



322 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

the text will obviate this. The topical-textual or synthetic- 
analytic is the only satisfactory textual method. 

The textual division may attach itself to the stress-words 
or to the stress-thought of the passage. Passages whose 
chief words are pregnant with meaning and are so related 
as to secure unity of thought may become the basis of a 
successful verbal development, c. g., Romans 8 : 28, "And 
we know that to them that love God all things work to- 
gether for good." Theme : What we may know of the gov- 
ernment of God. 1. That God is at "work" in it. 2. That 
His activities work cooperatively, "together/' 3. That they 
work teleologically, work "for" something. 4. That they 
work beneficently, or towards the "good." 5. That they 
work conditionally toward this beneficence, "to them that 
love God." Micah 6:8, "And what does the Lord require 
of thee, but to do justly," etc. Theme: The Summary of 
divine requisitions, 1. Justice. 2. Philanthrophy. 3. 
Piety. James 5:16 (b), "The supplication of a righteous 
man availeth much in its working. Theme ; Prevailing Prayer. 
I. The type of prayer — the cry of human want. 2. Its 
ethical quality. 3. The sphere of its prevailing efficacy. 
It "avails" to accomplish objective results. 4. Its measure 
and variety — "avails much." 5. The subjective conditions, 
because it energizes within. The objection against this 
method of treating texts is that it is likely to degenerate 
into allegory, artificiality and lack of unity. The textual 
division that attaches itself to the stress-thoughts of the pas- 
sage may be identical with and not differentiable from the 
topical method, e. g., Rev. 3: 20, "Behold I stand at the door 
and knock," etc., may be treated according to the supple- 
mental textual method, in which, as not infrequently in 
Robertson's preaching, topics from without may be combined 
with topics furnished by the text. 2 Cor. 5:14, "For the love 
of Christ constraineth us," may be treated according to the 



THE OUTLINE 323 

expansive textual method, i. e., by educing the elements of 
thought involved in the constraint of Christ's love. 1. A 
rational constraint. 2. A moral constraint, etc. John 6: 
68, ''Simon Peter answered him: To whom shall we go," 
etc., may be treated according to what may be called the 
implicative textual method, i. e. y by educing the implications 
of the text. 1. We must in religion go somewhere, must 
get beyond ourselves. 2. Must appeal to a living personal 
being. 3. It is to Christ or no one, etc. A passage like 
Acts 16:30, "What must I do to be saved," may be treated 
according to the grammatical textual' method, following 
the subject, predicate and object. 1. The personal search. 
2. The practical method. 3. The object sought. 

2. As to the topical method, there are two classes that 
should be examined. One deals immediately and directly 
with the main thought of the theme and discusses it with 
reference to the work of instruction. The other deals in- 
directly with the thought of the theme and uses it in the 
way of application and with reference to practical interests. 
One lays stress upon the subject and the other upon the 
object of the sermon. The former, as being expository 
of the thought of the theme and aiming at instruction, may 
be called the didactic topical method, and the latter, as de- 
ducing inferences from the theme for practical use, may be 
called the applicatory topical method. 

(1) In the didactic plan or division of the theme, the 
immediate object is to bring out the different groups of 
thought that lie in the theme with reference to the work 
of teaching. The subject is the important matter and must 
be discussed on the basis of its importance as a subject. The 
application may be made in connection with the discussion, 
or subsequently in the conclusion. But whenever and 
wherever made, it is based upon the discussion, and is in 
a way subordinate to it. The immediate thing is to get the 



324 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

elements of the subject before the hearer in such way as 
to increase or clarify or rectify his knowledge of it. Most 
topical sermons of the weightier sort belong to this class. 
Such was the old New England topical sermon. Its ob- 
ject was indoctrination, and it was shaped with reference to 
this end. Didactic methods vary. Those current in our day 
differ from those of a previous period. But whatever the 
method, the aim of the didactic sermon is the same. It 
is edification by increase, or clarification or correction of 
knowledge. So long as due attention is given to the moral 
and religious aim of the sermon, the didactic method of 
handling its material is very important. This is pastoral 
preaching by preeminence. 

(2) In the applicatory method, the material of the sub- 
ject is handled in a practical and suggestive manner, and 
with reference primarily to moral and religious incentive. 
It takes up at once the bearings of the subject upon practical 
interests. It may be in the form of inferences that have 
a bearing upon men's beliefs, for truth may have a practi- 
cal bearing upon one's opinions, or it may have a practical 
bearing upon the formation of their characters or upon their 
general conduct or upon some specific and immediate line 
of action. It generally deals with inferential thoughts of 
a suggestive, quickening character, e. g., Matt 20:28, "Even 
as the Son of man came, not to be ministered unto," etc. 
The subject suggested here is familiar and does not call for 
elaborate didactic treatment. It is better to apply the sub- 
ject by deducing inferential thoughts from it. 1. The 
subject suggests the way in which Christ established his 
ascendency over men. 2. It suggests our supreme want. 
3. It suggests our supreme life task. This method need 
not fail in discussion. The applications themselves are dis- 
cussed. But it is discussion by the process of indirection. It 
may rescue the sermon from unfruitful discussion or un- 



THE OUTLINE 325 

profitable commonplace. Themes that demand thorough 
explication and discussion call for the didactic method. 
The simpler, the more commonplace, the more practical, 
the more difficult perhaps, and I will add the more offensive, 
subjects may best be handled by the applicatory method. 
If the preacher seeks increase of moral and spiritual im- 
pulse he will naturally choose this method. No one would 
wish an elaborate, didactic discussion of Revelation 3:20. 
A passage like Gal. 1: 8, "But though we or an angel from 
heaven/' etc., would be difficult to treat by the direct didactic 
method. It is offensive and should be treated by indirec- 
tion, e. g., Theme: Paul's estimate of his Gospel. 1. It 
suggests the value of positive beliefs. 2. The value of 
hedging belief with strong conviction. 3. The value of 
correct beliefs. 4. Justification of indignation against the 
teaching and teachers of error. These topics are infer- 
ential and applicatory and on the whole, taken together may 
not be offensive. 

An extreme of the didactic method is found in the scholas- 
tic type of preaching. An extreme of the applicatory may 
be found in some classes of the evangelistic type of preaching. 
In the one case we have an excess of discussion without 
sufficient practical use. In the other we have an excess of 
application without the support of discussion. It is better 
on the whole perhaps not to divorce them. The truth, when 
necessary, should be adequately interpreted to the mind, 
and at the same time the practical needs of the hearer should 
not be forgotten. Justice to the subject and at the same 
time justice to the object should be the aim. And yet it 
may be necessary sometimes to separate them. A strictly 
doctrinal and strictly evangelistic sermon are sometimes 
necessary. In ordinary pastoral preaching, however, a hard 
and fast line between discussion and application is hardly 
necessary or desirable. 



326 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

III. The Necessity of Outline 
No elaboration of this topic is called for. There are but 
two suggestions. 

I. There can be no sermon without outline, more or less 
distinct. The textual sermon has, of course, the divisions 
of the text. But how about the topical sermon? Must 
it have divisions as well? I repeat no sermon is possible with- 
out division. Why? Let us see. One has a theme. No theme, 
no sermon, but homily. It may be hidden or at the surface, 
implicit or explicit, held in solution or emergent in form. 
But it is there, and it is one. And it contains groups of 
subordinate thought. They are all wrapped up there in the 
theme. The theme is capable of formulation in some sort 
of proposition or affirmation or statement, and about it not 
one thing but many complex things may be said. Now, 
what will one do? Use or apply the subject, perhaps? Very 
well. This involves partition or division into different as- 
pects or phases of what is to be used or applied. One does 
not use or apply the subject by saying one thing over and 
over again in the same way in which it has been said in the 
theme. There is no development of the subject in this. 
There is no bringing out of the complexities of thought that 
are hidden in the theme. The theme is applied only when 
different applicatory aspects of it are brought out. But per- 
haps one will discuss rather than apply the subject? It 
may be done variously. No matter how. One will dis-cuss 
it, i. e., etymologically one will shake it asunder into its 
elements, one will break up that complex mass, the theme, 
into its constituent elements. To discuss a subject is to 
disintegrate it, and to examine, reflect upon and use the 
parts of which it is composed. Otherwise one does not 
discuss it, he fools with it. Now, here is division. It is a 
manifest necessity. The only question is; what sort of divi- 
sion? Or the further question: How definite and manifest 



THE OUTLINE 327 

shall it be? Some sort there must be. One must know 
those hidden — those possible groups of thought that lie 
there, else one does not know his subject. What can one 
do with it without knowing something about it? To know 
and handle the theme, then involves division. Now, it needs 
no argument, or should need none, that in general this 
division process should in some way be made apparent, 
at. least sufficiently so for the accomplishment of one's pur- 
pose. The preacher must have some scheme of thought in 
mind, and the audience ought to have the avail of it, if the 
preacher will reasonably expect to do anything for them. 

2. The character of the sermon, as determined by its sub- 
ject and object, conditions the kind of divisions, as well as 
their number and their defmiteness of outline. Let us look 
then at the two types of sermon above referred to as related 
to this question. 

As regards the didactic sermon, the demand is, of course, 
that it be instructive. The audience, therefore, should be able 
to take in and take away the whole sermon, to take it not 
simply as a whole but in its parts and relations and thus in 
fact be the better able to retain it as a whole. The success 
of the sermon depends on this, not on a merely fragmentary 
impression. The subject should stand out clearly in outline 
in the mind of the preacher and this clearness of outline 
should appear in his discussion. The sort of topics that are 
adapted to the work of teaching should be chosen, or such 
proofs as will carry his argument if it be an argumentative 
discourse. They will be arranged clearly and methodically, 
so that they may be followed easily. The divisions will be, 
therefore, somewhat prominent and obtrusive. The theme 
will be broken up into its parts, each part will be examined 
by itself, and in its relations, and the whole subject as thus 
analyzed, will be presented in a closely organized manner. 
Not that the divisions must be mathematically formal. They 



328 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

certainly should not run on in a formal manner, each 
topic in succession out of its predecessor, rather than directly 
out of the theme, as the scholastic sermon did, till the 
preacher had piled together an interminable mass of bulky 
fragments, a hundred or more, as we find even in preachers 
like Baxter and other Puritan preachers. But there will 
be a clearly outlined discussion that will do the work of 
discussion. The word "skeleton" has done duty in homi- 
letics and it has frightened a good many modern preachers. 
But one might say a worse thing about a sermon than that 
it has a good skeleton, as one might say a worse thing 
about the human body than that it has a symmetrical form. 
It means that it is rationally and, in fact, aesthetically or- 
ganized and that every one can see that it is. It does not 
mean simply that it is fleshless and lifeless. A didactic ser- 
mon, with a clear outline, need not be a skeleton in the ob- 
jectionable sense that is is lifeless. A live sermon, just 
because it is such, demands structural quality, as any liv- 
ing organism of high grade demands it, demands it because 
it is an organism of high grade. The higher the organism, 
the more intricate and elaborate not only but the more 
manifest its structure. The lower the organism, the less 
manifest its structure. We speak of the "body" of the ser- 
mon. The name suggests a structure manifest enough to 
support the name. A structureless man of unorganized 
homiletic protoplasm has no developed body. We know 
the body of an organism from its parts. 

(2) But with respect to the applicative or more practical 
sermon the chief object is impression, not teaching. Such 
impression is not wholly dependent on teaching. It is not 
a strong, complete mental conquest, but a strong, urgent, 
moral and emotional incentive, or succession of incentives 
that is sought. The object is to carry into the mind one 
simple, main thought, variously illustrated in such a way as 



THE OUTLINE 329 

will leave impressions that will abide and do their work. 
The preaching of Dr. Alexander McKenzie of Cambridge, 
Mass., illustrates this method. In sermons of this sort it 
is not necessary to develop very fully the different groups 
of thought that lie in the theme, and lay them all out be- 
fore the hearer in clear outline. It will only be necessary 
to take the main thought of the subject, which is simple, 
and illustrate and apply it in a variety of ways, somewhat 
as Dr. Chalmers did, although his subjects were not sim- 
ple, somewhat as Bishop Brooks did, and as Dr. Bushnell 
never did. In this way there will, of course, be division, 
for to illustrate and apply a subject in any way, no matter 
how concretely, is in a sort to discuss it, for phases of 
the illustrated subject are brought out in succession. The 
leading thought will always be presented in different as- 
pects. But such discussion will be relatively simple in the 
material and formal sense. It will not be argumentative or 
elaborately didactic. It may have but little of the formal, 
structural quality. Such structure as it may have will be that 
of the simpler class of organisms, in which the parts are 
not obtrusively manifest. We have here more of the 
synthetic process, as in the didactic sermon we have more 
of the analytic process. Here we may have more of the in- 
ductive, as there more of the deductive process. 

IV. The Topics or Categories of the Outline 
The Avord topic is a Greek rhetorical term in use before 
the time of Aristotle, but more fully developed by him. It 
means primarily the "place" where arguments or proofs 
are found for the use of the rhetorician and orator. For 
classical rhetoric and oratory dealt mostly with a type of 
speech in which arguments were used, such arguments as 
are appropriate to the sphere of probable as distinguished 
from demonstrative evidence, i: e., popular rhetorical argu- 



330 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

ments as distinguished from dialectical or philosophical 
arguments. The idea suggested is that arguments in con- 
nection with the subject, do not at once readily suggest them- 
selves. They need to be hunted up. There is need of a 
"place" where they may be stored and found when demanded. 
Hence the rhetorical term "invention" which refers both 
to the discovery of the material of thought and to the 
methods of handling the material of thought. The study 
of classical rhetoric, therefore, was designed as an aid to 
public speakers in rinding material and method for the de- 
velopment of their spteches. The orator's arguments or 
possible methods of treating his subject were stored up, 
i. e., were classified and, as it were, gathered into a treasure 
house and there stood ready for use in this classified con- 
dition when sought. 

Then by metonymy the word was applied to the argu- 
ments themselves. These arguments were known as the 
commonplaces or special places of men's reasoning, i. e., the 
general or special methods of handling subjects discussed. 
Aristotle discusses twenty-eight of these general topics or 
methods of argument. The Latin term "loci communes" 
refers to the general method of conducting a popular ar- 
gument, *. e. t methods that are common to any particular 
type of public speech. In classical rhetoric — Greek and 
Latin alike — there were three types of public speech, the 
deliberative, a persuasive type of political oratory, the judi- 
cial, a persuasive type of legal oratory, and the epideictic, 
a highly emotional type of eulogistic oratory. There were 
topics or methods of discussion especially adapted to each 
of these species of oratory, just as in preaching there are 
topics or methods of treatment that are adapted to the didac- 
tic, the ethical and the evangelistic types of discourse. The 
word topic, then, as applied to preaching means the methods 
of handling the sermon, methods of introducing the subject, 



THE OUTLINE 331 

methods of stating it, methods of developing it and methods 
of concluding it. As used in our discussion it means methods 
of developing the theme or of planning the sermon. Topics 
then are the categories or classifications of thought used in 
preaching. A study of these classifications is a study of 
the principles of mental association or of those thought- 
relations that one may follow in the treatment of a subject. 

The study has generally been regarded as a valuable one 
for a public speaker. The older writers on homiletics have 
more to say about it than the modern. The concrete method 
of study is particularly valuable, i. e., an examination of 
the methods of different preachers in the handling of their 
themes. The methods they follow will depend largely on 
their mental bias and equipment. The preacher of a phil- 
osophical or logical habit of mind will follow methods that the 
man of imaginative or emotional or practical tendency will not 
follow. There is no better way of learning the peculiarities 
of a man's preaching or of getting at the preacher's lead- 
ing tendencies than a study of his topics, or methods of 
handling his subjects. But the study of the methods them- 
selves independently of their concrete products is of value. 
I shall discuss this in another connection. Just now I shall 
simply direct attention to some considerations to be taken 
into account in the choice of topics for the plan of the ser- 
mon. 

A sermon is not good simply because it has a recognized 
plan. That depends on the sort of plan. The character of 
the plan depends on the character of the topics chosen. 
Note the following considerations. 

1. The character of the topics should correspond with 
the character of the sermon, i. e. f with the subject of 
the sermon and with its object. The choice should not 
be made capriciously. There are reasons in the nature of the 
subject, and in the proper object, of the sermon and in the 



332 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

proper thought-relation between the subject and object why- 
one should choose one rather than another class or group 
of topics. Of course there is great range of possible choice. 
One can not lay down any hard and fast rule here. But it is 
evident enough that there are topics that are adapted to 
different types of sermon, I will add different types of the 
distinctively Christian sermon. There is a large variety 
of topics that readily adjust themselves to Christian themes. 
There are ways of looking at things that may be called pre- 
eminently Christian. There are Christian categories of 
thought, Christian commonplaces and special places. These 
topics readily adjust themselves to different types of ser- 
mons. For example, there are topics that are peculiarly 
adapted to didactic sermons. A very large number of our 
New Testament texts are didactic texts. They call for in- 
terpretation. Preaching must be largely expository. Now 
there are didactic topics that fit these texts and the subjects 
deduced from them. They might be called philosophical 
topics. They belong to the realm of abstract thought per- 
haps, although they may be stated concretely or representa- 
tively. In discussing such subjects we are likely to direct 
attention to the nature of the truth in hand, its fundamental 
principles, its characteristics, its implications, its necessity, its 
grounds or sources, its evidences, the objections against it, etc. 
In handling an ethical sermon we look for topics that are 
adapted to ethical impression. Whatever touches the realm 
of duty, of moral necessity, of moral privilege, of moral aim 
or motive, whatever touches the domain of consequences, 
the realm of moral utility, of moral dignity, or grandeur 
or the realm of moral conviction, takes us at once into the 
topics that are adapted to the work of ethical inculcation. 
There are ethical topics that are distinctively Christian, 
and are peculiarly fitted to the work of moral impression that 
is characteristically Christian. 



THE OUTLINE 333 

In dealing with the lighter class of sermons, sermons 
in which feeling and imagination abound, or of the more 
distinctively practical character, we look for topics that take 
us into the realm of concrete reality, the realm of illustra- 
tion, of example, of experience. But it is the object, as 
well as the subject, that should determine the topics. Most 
sermons, therefore, call for a combination of the didactic 
and the practical class of topics. Let me illustrate from the 
two following plans that admirably recognize the difference 
between the didactic and the practical interest in preaching. 
Matt. 13:44. Theme; The Hidden Treasure. Didactic plan. 
1. The Nature of it. 2. The value of it. Here the lead- 
ing object is an interpretation of the parable. In order 
fully to understand it we must know the nature of it, we must 
understand what this hidden treasure is. But the object 
is not wholly didactic. It is partly practical. For this reason 
the hearer should have the value of it set before him. But 
the value is interpreted as well as inculcated. Therefore 
even the second topic is in part didactic. Practical plan. 
1. It is so hidden that it must be sought. 2. It is so 
manifest that it may be found. 3. It is so valuable that 
its worth can not be estimated. 4. Yet it is to be so greatly 
desired that one must surrender all to get it. Now observe 
that in the first plan the object, is edification by increase 
of knowledge of the subject, first knowledge of the nature 
of the subject discussed, and secondly of its value, the more 
practical thought which, therefore, comes last. Note also 
that in the practical plan the two main topics of the didactic 
plan, nature and value, are not only expanded but are shaped 
in the statement with supreme reference to practical im- 
pression. It is a hidden treasure. But in the practical dis- 
cussion the hidden quality of it is so shaped as to serve 
an ethical purpose, i. e., because hidden it must be sought. 
Again, it is not hopelessly hidden. It is so manifest that it 



334 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

may be found. Hence we are encouraged to seek it. It 
is valuable. But it is so valuable that one can not worthily es- 
timate it. It is, moreover, so valuable that one must sur- 
render all to win it.* All this will illustrate the important 
results that would follow careful discrimination in the choice 
of methods. By such discrimination one will avoid a stereo- 
typed method of handling the sermon. Each sermon will 
have its own plan, as conditioned by its character and aim. 
There is more involved in this whole matter than appears 
at the surface or than the ordinary preacher understands. 

2. The number of the topics, or the extent of the plan 
will also be determined by the character of the sermon, 
i. e.y by the aim of the sermon as well as the character of 
the subject. The didactic and particularly the doctrinal 
or argumentative sermon, that aims to do full justice to 
the subject, in general, demands a more elaborate and ex- 
tensive plan than the lighter and more practical sermon. 
But no invariable rule can be laid down. Even here the 
proper aim of the sermon will necessarily limit the extent 
of the plan. Many didactic sermons, like the one above 
cited, have but few main topics. They are likely, however, to 
have a good many subordinate topics. Note in passing 
that the didactic sermon in the hands of an unfruitful 
preacher is likely to handle a certain limited number of 
topics and so result in a stereotyped method. This may 
be true of all classes of sermons in such hands. But it 
is particularly true of sermons of this class. 

Note also that the modern sermon of whatever class has 
but relatively few topics. The plan is brief and simple. 
This is perhaps due to the fact that it is less doctrinal and 
therefore must be less elaborate. It is due also to the 
influence of modern literary culture and to the practical 



* These two plans are from some German writer on homiletics 
whose name the author has forgotten. 



THE OUTLINE 335 

tendency to combine the interest of the object with that 
of the subject more fully than our homiletic ancestors did. 
The older method secured doctrinally instructive preaching. 
The newer method more suggestive and animating preach- 
ing. It is a less formal, less stereotyped and a more vital 
and organic method of handling the material of the ser- 
mon. Note further that any plan presupposes the discus- 
sion of more than a single topic or phase of the subject. 
There are at least two main topics with subdivisions, and 
perhaps three or four. One may, indeed, select a single 
limited phase of a subject and treat it illustratively. But 
this phase is the theme and the illustrations that present 
it in a variety of aspects are in effect the topics. Moreover, 
all the topics, whether many or few, should yield themselves 
naturally to the preacher's pressure upon his theme and 
should not be forced out by far-fetched association of ideas. 
3. The topics all come out of the theme as a whole, and 
do not represent a mere fragment of it. It is the theme 
as a unit that yields each topic. One can not discuss a 
part or a fragment of the complex theme at one point and 
some phase of the whole theme at another point without intro- 
ducing confusion and contradiction. That is to say; one can 
not change or reduce or mutilate his theme in the process 
of discussion. Moreover the topics should represent and 
make manifest and felt the object as well as the subject of 
the sermon. When they run out of the theme as conditioned 
by the object, the whole sermon is held in unity and within 
proper limits. One of the serious defects of the old scholas- 
tic sermon was that the topics did not run back to the 
theme as conditioned by the proper object of the sermon, 
nor did they all run back to the theme as a unit. The suc- 
cessive topics related themselves each to the other, one point 
suggested another and that another and so the sermon drifted 
away from the theme following the lead of successive divi- 



336 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

sions and in the process forgot its proper object. The topics 
of the plan are normally related to each other. They prop- 
erly do not overlap. They are mutually exclusive. Each 
topic discusses a single phase of the theme at the exclusion 
of all others, and each is of its own kind. One can not 
discuss the "how" or the "why" under the category of the 
"what." "Result" can not be discussed under the category 
of "cause." Simplicity of content is the point. Each topic 
has in the quality of its thought a relative independence of 
all other topics. One can not turn back in the discussion 
of a topic to pick up something that belongs to a previous 
topic, nor reach forward to any subsequent topic and an- 
ticipate the discussion of it. Such confusion of thought 
wrecks the logic of the sermon. 

4. The topics are arranged with reference to unity and 
progress of impression. The didactic topics are naturally 
arranged in logical order and with reference to unity and 
progress of mental impression. The practical topics, or 
such as are chosen with reference to rhetorical and practical 
impression, are naturally arranged in what is called rhetorical 
order, or with reference to unity, and progress of emotional 
or ethical or more comprehensively practical impression. 
It is not impossible, however, to combine the two objects, 
arranging them with reference at once to unity and progress 
of mental and of emotional and ethical impression. 

V. Value of the Outline 

The planning of the sermon consists in the choice and ar- 
rangements of topics. The value of the plan is the value 
of the topics in evolving, interpreting and applying the 
thought content of the theme. The only way of getting 
at the right topics and thus securing the right plan for the 
sermon is to get at them from the inside rather than the 
outside, i. e. y by analyzing and sifting the thought material 



THE OUTLINE 337 

of the text and theme, getting at the groups or centres of 
thought that lie there and then selecting such topics as 
naturally evolve themselves from these groups of thought 
and are adapted to the object of the sermon and arranging 
them in order. The old method of storing up topics and 
drawing on them at will as from an external storehouse was 
very defective. It resulted in externality and artificiality 
of treatment. It laid undue emphasis upon form as dis- 
tinguished from substance. It resulted in stereotyped 
method. The preacher who picks his topics from the out- 
side, without entering into the elements of the subject, or 
having respect to his object, who lays them on ab-extra, 
or inserts them as in an artificial frame-work, will preach 
mechanically and his product will be wooden. This will 
result again in superficiality. What is formal is sure to be 
superficial. Thoroughness is possible only for one who 
evolves his topics after thorough investigation of his text 
and subject. This external method also results in simply 
taking out of the subject what one has put into it. If one 
draws out his topics from the substance of thought in his 
theme, if he analyses, classifies and groups his material ac- 
cording to its natural thought-relations and according to 
the demands of the object of the sermon, he will get what 
is in the subject, and not what he imports into it. But 
a proper selection and use of topics is simply a proper 
planning of the sermon, and this is of supreme importance 
in the work of the preacher. Some of the best preachers like 
the late Dr. Magee, Anglican Archbishop of York, have 
spent years in careful training with respect to the order- 
ing of the thought of their sermons. What I wish to do is to 
point out the importance of the careful planning of the ser- 
mon from three points of view. 

i. And first its value with respect to the production of 
material, (i) A study of the plan, which is a study of 



338 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

topics, is necessary to disclose the resources of the sub- 
ject. It results in a thorough knowledge of it. One knows 
his theme analytically, knows it in its thought-relations and 
so in its possibilities of development. One tests its pos- 
sibilities by trying many methods. This discloses the re- 
sources of the subject, and this aids in invention. Without 
such analysis one can not know the possibilities of his theme. 
The material of the sermon is locked up there. It is en- 
tirely hidden until it is unlocked and brought to light. It 
must be discovered, classified, grouped about its proper 
centres. This done, one knows its scope and range, and 
what it is worth for use. A mine, hitherto unknown, has 
been opened. Its treasures run in veins that are concealed 
until the preacher has entered and opened them up. That 
is, there has been set in movement the action of mental asso- 
ciation, and the thought-relations of the subject have been 
laid bare. We speak of fruitful themes. What are they? 
They are themes that open up to the mind their complex- 
ities and wide-ranging relations of thought. There is doubt- 
less a difference in themes in this regard. Some are in 
themselves more fruitful than others. But it is largely a 
relative matter, relative to the resources, the aptitude, the at- 
titude, and the activity of the preacher. The only way to know 
whether a subject is fruitful or not is to thrust in the probe 
and test it by opening up its thought-relations in a well- 
ordered plan. It is this tested capacity of the subject to 
open itself up to the mind that quickens mental action. It 
may also quicken the imagination and in so doing may 
quicken the emotions and possibly the moral and spiritual 
susceptibilities, as one gets inside of it. This is a condition 
of homiletic productiveness. By the fruitfulness of a sub- 
ject then, we mean its capacity to yield its treasures to 
topical analysis and arrangement. One may find that sub- 
jects, which at first seemed barren, will open with wonder- 



THE OUTLINE 339 

ful interest and productiveness when subjected to the test 
of analysis. The habit of sketching outlines along different 
lines of mental association is a valuable one. The outlines 
show the subject in different lights, in different relations. 
And this agitation of thought in its various relations will 
yield a wealth of material from which one may select for the 
particular line at last chosen. (2) I have already sug- 
gested that a study of the plan may quicken mental and 
emotional activity. But it may be well to linger with it. 
The mind is at home only in the realm of order. Get it 
on to the right track, set it in movement along the right 
line and it will move freely and vigorously. It must move 
normally in the investigation of a subject, i. e., it must 
move in line with its own laws. If it gets at cross purposes 
with itself, it ceases to act. Every earnest thinker knows 
the glow of enthusiasm with which he enters a subject, 
when he sees that he is on the right track, that the way 
opens up broadly and that he has free range as along 
a great highway. Recall Robert Hall's declaration that he 
could do nothing as a preacher till he had "cut out a 
channel" for his thoughts. It is a grand experience for 
a preacher to know the joy of mental and emotional and 
spiritual freedom in moving along the lead of a great reli- 
gious truth that opens up its broad avenues before him. 
(3) A careful study of the plan is necessary for the selec- 
tion of the right sort of material, material fitted to the par- 
ticular sort of sermon in hand, or to the particular object 
of the sermon, or to the audience. It rescues preaching 
from caprice. We often wonder why preachers pitch upon 
certain themes in their use of texts and why they handle 
them as they do. Possibly they do not know thoroughly 
well themselves, or do not know that they know or how 
they know. It sometimes seems almost a matter of chance, 
or of caprice. Suitable reflection and choice based on such 



340 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

reflection would secure pertinence and harmony in the dis- 
cussion, for just the topics needed are available. Such re- 
flection will secure variety in treatment. A stereotyped 
method is the product of the preacher's unfamiliarity with 
the possible categories of thought that might be evolved 
from the subject. Familiarity with them would put the 
preacher upon the work of developing the sermon variously. 
One category suggests another. Reflection and choice se- 
cure variety, — variety not only in the treatment of subjects, 
but variety as to the types of the sermon. For it enables 
one to distinguish between methods that are appropriate 
to different classes of sermons. It is also an aid in dis- 
criminating with respect to methods of handling, not only 
the theme, but other parts of the sermon. It helps one in 
the work of introduction, in deducing themes from texts 
and in concluding the sermon. In this way, one acquires 
facility in the handling of his sermons. But it is of special 
value in shaping any sort of sermon with reference to the 
realization of its proper object. Not everything may be said 
in any sermon that might be said, or that one would like 
to say, or that the audience might like to have one say, 
or that the subject, in and of itself, and by itself might 
sanction one in saying. For the sermon is not a thesis or 
a treatise or a disquisition, not something for the eye to 
be read and studied. It is an oratorical product for the ear. 
It must be caught at once. It is limited by its character 
and function as an address. It is designed to open up a 
subject, not for the sake of the subject alone in its wide- 
reaching relations of thought but for the purpose of in- 
fluencing an audience. One may say, therefore, only what 
the object of the sermon requires one to say. As to its 
quality, quantity and method this material should be fitted 
to the realization of this object. A process of selection, 
therefore, is necessary. Now, it is the plan that conditions 



THE OUTLINE 341 

this selection. It binds the sermon to the end in view. 
One who has no well-planned method of conducting his dis- 
cussion, not only does not know what to say with reference 
to the demands of the subject but of the object as well. 
He strikes wildly. In fact without a well-ordered plan one 
can not have a well-considered aim at all. A house may 
be built as easily as a sermon without a plan. Planning is a 
process of "natural selection" and exclusion, the result of 
which binds the sermon to its proper objective point. 

2. The value of well-ordered arrangement with reference 
to the logical qualities of the sermon or its organic relations 
of thought. There are thought-relations that bind the ser- 
mon and hold it in logical consistency. They secure har- 
mony and preclude the possibility of logical discords. (1) 
Unity is essential to harmony in the thought-relations of 
a sermon. The sermon is one whole. It discusses one theme 
and has one chief ultimate aim. The theme may be com- 
plex and the aim may be complex, but there is only one 
main thought and one chief aim. This thought should be 
so presented to the mind as to leave unity of mental im- 
pression in all varieties of thought and should be so shaped 
that it will have unity of ethical impression in all its varieties 
of ethical incentive. This double unity, unity of subject and of 
object, of thought and of impression, should be wrought into 
one harmonious whole. Unity of thought in preaching has 
received chief emphasis. This has been regarded as homi- 
letic unity by preeminence. This is because the didactic 
element has been so prominent in Protestant preaching es- 
pecially. The aim has been to do justice to the subject. But 
the aim should also be to do justice to the object. Preaching 
should include what is characteristic in dramatic impression. 
Dramatic unity aims at one supreme resulting impression. All 
the forces of character and of plot are brought to bear, 
concentrate upon one point. Didactic unity seeks one supreme 



342 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

result in thought. It will hold all the elements of thought 
bound back to one centre. But homiletic unity should also 
pour all the forces of personality, as well as of thought, in 
the handling of the sermon, concentrate upon one moral 
result. The need of this double unity is grounded in the 
constitution of the human soul. Let a speaker secure one 
strong, leading mental impression and at the same time 
one strong emotional and moral impression and he has 
wrought a result which the soul by the very make of it, 
craves, and which is conducive to its welfare, for it is con- 
ducive to its quickening, enlargement and growth. We are 
not at home with disharmony. The end of all high art is 
unity and harmony. It is perhaps preeminently so in that 
greatest and noblest of all arts in some aspects, the art of 
effective public speech. The highest sort of moral quicken- 
ing and enlargement may be conditioned by it. (2) Com- 
pleteness is also essential to the harmonious thought- 
relations of a sermon. Unity of subject and object commit it 
to completeness, for it must bring out what there is in the 
subject conceived as one whole and in such way and to 
such extent as will realize its object. As the germ of the 
sermon the theme should grow into the fully-developed 
organism. Without the development of what belongs to 
it and is procommitted to it by the theme, it is a mutilated 
product, just as any organism would be mutilated that should 
not contain what properly belongs to it and is pledged to 
it by virtue of the fact that it is an organism. Complete- 
ness, however, is relative, relative to the specific conception 
and statement of the theme. For what is necessary to bring 
out adequately the meaning of the theme as conceived and 
stated is essential. It is relative to the line of thought 
chosen. For what is essential to this line of thought should 
be brought out. But completeness is also relative to the aim 
of the sermon. For what will fit the sermon for the re- 



THE OUTLINE 343 

alization of its object should come into discussion. Well 
now, it is careful analysis that settles this to a consider- 
able extent, at the outset. When once one has arranged the 
elements of his theme according to a scheme that has 
reference to a given impression, he will, of course, know the 
better whether the sermon will discuss the subject as it 
should be discussed. 

(3) Symmetry also is necessary to harmony. A sermon 
may have a certain unity and completeness, and yet lack 
symmetry, i. e., proportion of parts. A single topic may 
have a prominence and fulness of development dispropor- 
tionate to its intrinsic importance, e. g., its importance as 
a phase of the subject, or disproportionate as related to the 
object of the sermon, so as to throw what is of equal or 
greater importance into the background. The sermon is 
a disproportionate whole. It is injured, not simply as a work 
of art, but as an effective instrument. Unity of mental and 
moral impression may be injured. A mechanical symmetry, 
or a proportion of parts that satisfies the eye as it rests 
upon the page or the ear as it listens to the sermon, a sort 
of French artistic pedantry, is not the thing advocated, but 
a proportion as related to mental and moral impression. 
Now, this proportion is assured by a process of method- 
ical arrangement of the elements of the theme. Without 
a carefully-arranged plan in the mind one is likely to over- 
elaborate one or two topics that interest him most at the 
time and to leave too little time for the expansion of other 
topics of equal or even of greater importance for the suc- 
cess of the sermon. Preachers are likely to overwork the 
first one or two topics and to crowd or mutilate the latter 
part of the sermon, so that it lacks rhetorical effectiveness. 
A methodical outlining of the whole subject based on a 
careful survey of it at the outset might result in an avoid- 
ance of this. 



344 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

(4) Finally progress is essential to harmony, an orderly 
movement from one landing-place to another and from the 
less to the more important topics of discussion. "A Sermon" 
says Vinet, "is a procession, not a promenade." It may be 
one, may be complete, may be proportionate, and yet dis- 
orderly, the parts are all there, all related to the whole, all 
there in symmetrical development, all running on to one 
goal, and yet the parts may be displaced. A disorderly 
or a disarranged whole is a monstrosity in art as in nature. 
Each part of a sermon should have a relative complete- 
ness of its own, while it somehow leads up to the next part 
beyond it and so holds the hearer in the line of movement 
to the end. Careful planning of the sermon distributes the 
topics and sets them in their proper places. Progress is 
an important mark of an oratorical product. The essay 
may circle about a centre of thought and make no head. 
The oration, the address, the sermon must move on. It 
should be in some sort a triumphant movement. To reach 
successfully the crown-heights of an oratorical process is 
to secure the supreme impression sought. Cumulative power, 
the power that adds stroke after stroke to the impression, 
each successive stroke more effective than its predecessor 
and the last most effective of all, this is essential to the best 
oratorical effects. Now it is evident enough that careful 
planning of the sermon will secure it against a zig-zag or 
retrograde movement. No preacher can develop an effect- 
ive plan and flat out in anti-climax. 

3. The value of careful outline with refernce to rhetorical 
expression. Logic is practically a part of rhetoric. In hom- 
iletics it deals with the relations of thought not for its 
own sake as a science, and not for the sake merely of re- 
gulating the thinking of the preacher, but with reference 
to practical use in the art of speech and with reference to 
practical results in dealing with men. Logical effectiveness 



THE OUTLINE 345 

is, therefore, a part of the problem of rhetorical effective- 
ness. Other things being equal, the more effectively or- 
dered thought is, the more effectively uttered it is likely to 
be. Three elements of rhetorical effectiveness may be con- 
ditioned by homiletic order, clearness, force, grace. 

(i) Clearness. A clear expression of thought depends 
not merely upon lucidity of diction, but upon clearness of 
conception, and of arrangement. Perspicacity is necessary 
to perspicuity. Thought can not be clearly uttered if it 
be not clearly apprehended. But both clearness of appre- 
hension and clearness of diction may be largely dependent 
on clearness of arrangement. Disorderly method may in- 
volve one in obscurity of thought and this will unfavorably 
affect one's clearness of diction. The truth must be seen 
in its relations. A subject is mastered only when it is 
mastered in its relations. It is not well handled if it be 
not handled in its logical relations. We take in groups of 
objects in space, if we do it thoroughly, by individualizing 
the objects in succession and then holding them in their re- 
lations to the whole. And so we take in what moves in time, 
as the sermon does, by objects that mark relation and suc- 
cession. We get the whole by getting the parts. If one can 
not arrange his thoughts under a definite subject he is not 
yet ready to begin work. He has not attained to a well- 
balanced conception and to a clear comprehension of what 
he would be at. He should keep at it till his thoughts fall 
into line like troops at an officer's command. Who can 
fail to see that Frederick Robertson's clear-cut, incisive 
preaching was due largely to his orderly method? He mas- 
tered his subject. The result was that he said the right thing 
in the right place. I believe that the crystalline clearness 
of his style was largely conditioned by his grasp of the sub- 
ject in hand. To say that a man is a clear thinker is to say 
that he has thought his subject through, that he has a clear 



346 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

perception of it in its relations of thought, and that in so 
doing he has mastered it. A clear style is dependent on 
this. Not even inspiration itself could neutralize the in- 
effectiveness of a shambling, inconsequential method of hand- 
ling a subject. There are preachers, suggestive preachers 
we call them, who do not care to expose their outline. 
Their thought and diction may be clear enough, for obtru- 
sion of outline is not always necessary to correctness and 
clearness of outline. But one can not name an educative 
and edifying preacher, whose work has permanent results, 
whose sermons are seriously defective in structural quality 
or who has no well-defined outline. Educative preaching, 
which is in the fullest sense edifying preaching, whose mark is 
clearness of thought and expression, will always value the 
clearly-manifest division. If one aims also at immediate, 
vivid, cumulative rhetorical impression of the best sort, he 
will look out for his method. Recall the judicious words 
of Phillips Brooks.* "Give your sermon an orderly, con- 
sistent progress, and do not hesitate to let your hearers 
see it distinctly, for it will help them first to understand 
and then to remember what you say." This advice is perhaps 
the more weighty that he was willing to give it in the face of 
the fact that he was not always scrupulously faithful to it in 
his own preaching. 

(2) Force. Vigorous preaching is not wholly a matter of 
incisive individual thought, or of intense rhetorical expression. 
Essay-writers, like Emerson, have doubtless a vigor of their 
own which is not dependent on clear order of thought. But the 
vigor of the essayist is not that which is demanded in preach- 
ing. Forcefulness of pulpit style is partly a question of 
method. A vigorous sermon should be tense and cumula- 
tive. It should be organized closely, move rapidly, and 
rise as it moves. It should press straight on to its goal, 

*Yale Lectures, Lecture V. Page 178. 



THE OUTLINE 347 

and each part should push the movement vigorously on. 
If one seeks strength of impression, he must say with himself 
and mean it. 'This one thing I do: I press on." Now, 
this means orderly movement. A discussion that flows on 
at its "own sweet will" easily flows beyond proper bounds 
and becomes ineffective, because it is straggling and thin. 
But a thorough discussion, thorough in its order, with 
thoughts marshalled as a general marshals his troops and 
hurls them upon one point, is wonderously intense and ef- 
fective. This is the Napoleonic strategy of the pulpit orator. 
In forensic oratory most great triumphs have been won 
in this way. The orator marshalls his material, pushes it on 
toward one point, secures cumulative force for it as it 
moves, gathers it all up at the end and as Theodore Parker 
says of a great English orator, "lets the ruin fly." Many 
of the triumphs of the pulpit — rhetorically speaking — have 
been won in something the same way. The sermon that is 
intense in its vigor, is condensed as being compacted together 
and crowded upon its objective point, and it is compact 
because methodical and methodical because thoroughly 
thought out and planned. Theodore Parker, who knew the 
great orators, knew the secret of their method and realized 
something of it in his own preaching. "Nothing," we are 
told,* "was commenced until a brief or scheme of it lay 
complete upon his desk. When reading and meditation, tak- 
ing copious notes meanwhile, had furnished him with a view 
of the whole subject, so that he saw not only the end from 
the beginning, but the details and subdivisions of each head, 
he began to write ***** jj e never undertook to lay 
his track until he had made a most careful and methodical 
survey of the route he must travel. He was all the time 
making statements and organizing thought. How many 



* Weiss' Life and Correspondence of Theodore Parker, vol. ii 
pages 8, 9, 12, 13. 



348 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

clergymen use their brains for bait, and wait in resigna- 
tion for the nibble of a text." (3) Grace. Elegance of lit- 
erary style is not merely a matter of syntax and vocabulary. 
This is one of the commonplaces of rhetoric. A semi-poetic 
diction and fluent syntax alone do not secure grace or 
elegance of utterance. Nor is it wholly a matter of thought 
and feeling. It is a question of method as well. Writers 
on rhetoric and homiletics have not minimized this fact. 
Prof. Shedd has some discriminating words upon it.* In 
pulpit speech we need grace of form as well as of color. 
Vocabulary may furnish color, but structure yields grace of 
form. "Drawing gives the skeleton," says Balzac, "and color 
gives the life; but life without the skeleton is a far more in- 
complete thing than the skeleton without the life."f Order, 
proportion, unity, harmony, progress, these are important 
elements in grace of pulpit style. Mere verbal decorations 
are tawdry. If a sermon lacks order, it lacks elegance. It 
was not ornamentation alone that constituted the elegance 
of Jeremy Taylor's pulpit style. Dr. Thomas Guthrie's 
style had color, but his preaching lacked the highest qua- 
lities of elegance. The sermon that has good method with 
fresh and well-expressed thought will always be interest- 
ing. We are carried along by a clear, steady, orderly move- 
ment of suggestive thought. A disorderly sermon is sure to 
lead to disagreeable surprises. One doesn't know what will 
turn up next. It is a great mistake to imagine that an 
aesthetic interest i9 promoted by abandoning clearness of 
outline, as if it were of no importance. A man who is alive 
will have no stiff, formal, artificial method in the pulpit, 
but method he will have, method that is the product of life. 
Such method will have grace of movement from beginning, 
through all transitions, to the end. 



* Homiletics Chap. III. 

t Balzac on Painting in 'The Hidden Masterpiece," page 317. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE DEVELOPMENT 

The development is the expansion of the outline. It is 
the outline brought into full form. It is not the direct 
expansion of the theme, but of the plan. The structureless 
germ, the theme, becomes structural in the plan, and the de- 
velopment brings out the full-grown organism. It has been 
called the "beginning of the battle." Carrying out this mil- 
itary figure, we may call the choice of theme the selection 
of the battle-ground, and the plan the disposition or ar- 
rangement of forces, the battle-array. The development, 
therefore, is the battle according to the arrangement of the 
plan. The battle opening with the beginning of the de- 
velopment, the introduction would be the skirmish line. 
The development, therefore, belongs to structural as well 
as to material homiletics. 

I. Methods of Development 

The development should, of course, produce the kind of 
sermon and realize the object to which the theme and out- 
line precommit it. Comprehensively stated, however, it should 
always undertake to do two things. It should interpret the 
truth in discussion to the mind, so far as it needs interpreta- 
tion, and it should apply the truth to practical interests. 
The development will, therefore, be of two general sorts. 
It will be partly didactic and partly persuasive. Here once 
more we come back to the nature and object of Christian 
preaching in its most comprehensive conception. The two 
interests may conceivably be separated. A sermon may be 



350 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

wholly didactic or wholly persuasive. But, as already sug- 
gested, the ordinary sermon should have reference to both 
of these interests. It is well if they interblend and are not 
wholly separate. The teaching sermon may well have a 
practical aim and a concrete form, and the impressional or 
persuasive sermon may well presuppose and rest upon a 
didactic basis. There need be no hard and fast line between 
them. The best sort of sermon in general interprets to 
the mind what needs interpretation and at the same time 
makes practical application of it. It reaches as large a 
number of the faculties as possible. It speaks to the mind, 
to the imagination, to the conscience, to the emotions and 
it impels to action. In different types of sermon, however, 
there will naturally be preponderance of the one or the 
other quality. There are three possible ways of introducing 
these elements into a sermon. It may be done by separat- 
ing them, as the scholastic sermon did, or its successor 
the old New England doctrinal sermon. Here we have 
first exposition, or discussion, or argument and then ap- 
plication. This was largely the method of Saurin, the great 
French Protestant preacher, of the preachers of the Angli- 
can Church in the seventeenth century; South and Barrow, 
whom Henry Ward Beecher followed in a measure in his 
early preaching, and of Dr. Emmons of Massachusetts, who 
always separated argument from application. It may be 
done, secondly, by giving the sermon that is prevailingly 
didactic a continuous practical turn, as well as by the in- 
troduction of inferential and more distinctively practical 
thoughts at the end. The method largely of Dr. Horace 
Bushnell. Or thirdly, it may be done by giving the ser- 
mon that is prevailingly impressional so vigorous a grip 
upon the mind by the skillful use of expository methods 
that it at once interests and instructs as well as moves the 
hearer. This was characteristic of the preaching of Phillips 



THE DEVELOPMENT 351 

Brooks. But let us consider these two methods of de- 
velopment in succession. It is, of course, understood that 
the two are separated only for purposes of analysis. 

1. The didactic development. (1) Consider first its 
value. It is necessary to the practical effectiveness of preach- 
ing. The preacher is a public teacher. He should wish 
to be the intellectual leader of his people. It is a mis- 
take to suppose that even common people, so-called, are 
interested in preaching in proportion as it is uninstructive. 
Properly handled, instructive preaching can not fail to be 
effective. The average man is inquisitive, especially about 
the problems of religion. A clear, vigorous, illustratively 
persuasive handling of a religious theme will have attraction 
for such a mind. The too common defect in didactic preach- 
ing is that it does not come to the hearer in appropriate 
popular form. The pulpit problem is not to say just as 
little as possible, but to put substantial thought into at- 
tractive concrete form. The element of success, if we may 
speak of it as having any success, in so-called sensational 
preaching, is not its poverty of material, but its vivacity 
and concreteness of form. Such speech is attractive. But 
it is a great mistake to imagine that good thinking is pro- 
portionately unattractive. Preaching should never degen- 
erate into a barren intellectualism. That is not preaching. 
But it should be masculine in quality. It should have some 
mental grip. Sentiment, fancy, feeling are necessary in 
preaching, but they may degenerate into sentimentalism or 
sensationalism of an offensive sort. True didactic preaching, 
which is sound thinking put in concrete, popular form, 
avoids the extreme of intellectualism on the one side and 
of sentimentalism or sensationalism on the other. 

It secures an intelligent faith and builds up strong cha- 
racter. It deals with men as rational beings. It furnishes 
intelligent and intelligible reasons for accepting the truth 



352 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

that is necessary to build character. It need not be po- 
lemical, nor even apologetic, and yet somehow or other, 
that which is felt to be the truth must be seen to be the 
truth. (2) Consider, secondly, some of its methods. There 
are various methods of expounding or interpreting the truth 
or of getting thought out before the mind. Some of them 
are particularly well adapted to the work of pulpit teaching. 
Writers on rhetoric have discussed them copiously, and there 
is no need to linger with them in their pulpit applications. 
But a few of them may well be noted. The method of 
generalization is employed by the most thoughtful and in- 
structive as well as persuasive preachers of our day. I have 
spoken of it in other relations, but it may well be touched 
upon in connection with the development of the sermon. 
Of course, the choice of topics conditions largely the didactic 
method of the development. But to touch upon it in this im- 
mediate connection is hardly repetition. It was the opinion 
of Mosheim, the reformer of German preaching, that in 
the higher class of didactic sermons a general view of the 
subject or the comprehensive and under-running principles 
of the truth in discussion should always be presented. It 
is a matter of observation that those preachers who gen- 
eralize their discussions, who show that the particular truth 
in hand has wide-reaching relations and exemplifications 
in various realms of thought and experience, are peculiarly 
instructive, attractive and helpful preachers. They show 
that Christian truth is not provincial, but cosmopolitan, and 
they thus show its reasonableness. Particularization is the 
opposite method. The use of it as an expository method 
makes preaching definite and specific. It holds attention 
for the time to but the one thing in hand and intensifies 
impression. Inference or deduction or what is called re- 
flection is another method. A large amount of expository 
work, larger than one would imagine, consists in inferential 



THE DEVELOPMENT 353 

reflections upon the subject in discussion. We are always 
running off into the rivulets of thought that flow from the 
main stream. These inferential deductions are valuable 
methods of interpreting a subject, for the reason that they 
expand and broaden the significance of the main thought. 
They suggest its productiveness. They show the subject 
in its logical thought-relations. Contrast is another method. 
Example another. Citation, which is a sort of appeal to 
authority, is another. Expansion by iteration is still another. 
In didactic discourse, which is not to be read but heard, 
and must be taken in at once, iteration becomes necessary, 
for thought needs expansion for the purpose of elucidation. 
Repeating thought in various forms brings out its inner 
significance. Lawyers know its value. And so do political 
orators like Edmund Burke. Preachers like Dr. Alex- 
ander McKenzie have learned the art of iteration and 
thus make their discussions the more luminous and attractive, 
• if not the more weighty. Observe, iteration avails itself 
of antithesis and draws on the opposite pole of thought 
for light. Various forms of analogy are valuable in the 
teaching development. One thing is set in analogous rela- 
tion with another. Each throws light upon the other, 
because they belong to the same family. It shows how wide- 
ranging principles are and how things at first seemingly 
diverse are held together in the unity of a fundamental 
law. Hence the possibility of classification and generaliza- 
tion. The field of analogy is a wide one. It is furnished 
by every department of knowledge. The point to be es- 
pecially noted in the use of analogy, is, as Whateley has 
pointed out,* that the likeness is in the relations of the 
objects brought into comparison and not in the objects 
themselves, and these objects belong to different spheres. 
There may be little or no resemblance between the ob- 

* Rhetoric, Chap. II, page 118. 



354 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

jects themselves that belong to these different spheres, but 
in their relations they may be alike, e. g., the analogy in the 
parable of the Prodigal Son is not primarily between be- 
ings but between the relations of beings belonging to two 
different spheres. The likeness is not primarily between 
God and a human father but between God's relation to 
man and a father's relation to his son. Any species of 
analogy, except the strained analogy called allegory, may 
be used in the didactic development. It has always been 
an attractive and valuable didactic method. The pulpit 
is heir to it. The man who is skillful in handling it gets 
a hearing. Works like that of Prof. Drummond, "Natural 
Law in the Spiritual World," secure an attention somewhat 
disproportionate to their real merits, perhaps, because the 
use of analogy is so attractive. And it is rather surprising 
that a method of presenting the truth which is preeminently 
a New Testament method, an almost distinguishing pecu- 
liarity of the form in which Christian revelation appears, 
a method that makes Christ quite unique as a teacher of 
religion, should not be more generally cultivated in the 
pulpit. A free use of analogy, both of the illustrative 
and the augmentative sort, would be a very effective method 
of conveying Christian truth. Argument as a method of 
didactic development calls for brief consideration. Its im- 
portance for the work of the pulpit has doubtless been 
overestimated. The object of a sermon is the discussion 
of truth with reference to practical results. All teaching, 
therefore, should have some of the elements of persuasion. 
It is the object of a convincing discussion that it should be 
made a persuasive discussion. In fact a truly convincing 
statement is in an important sense a truly persuasive state- 
ment and argument is not always necessary to make a 
statement convincing. Most Biblical truths are hardly 
adapted to elaborate argument. Clear statement may be 



THE DEVELOPMENT 355 

a substitute. The most convincing preaching is often sim- 
ply affirmatory of what is assumed, and may well be as- 
sumed, to be generally recognized as true. It is an appeal 
to what is common, to common sense, common conscience, 
common sentiment, common observation and experience. 
It may be a statement of fact or a statement of principle. 
Whatever it be, the assumption is that the truth of what is 
affirmed may somehow be recognized without being scienti- 
fically demonstrated. It may take the form of exposition 
or of illustration or of inference as well as of argument. 
After all but relatively few are convinced of religious truth 
by sheer argument. Belief is the product of a great variety 
of influences. The example of Christ and of his Apostles 
may be noted here. Christianity was not propagated by 
logical argument. It refused to avail itself of such methods. 
The arguments of Christ, so far as we may speak of his 
teaching as argument at all, are not an attempt at demon- 
stration. Of course, they furnish reasons for accepting the 
truth, and so far forth they are proofs. But they are not 
attempts at demonstration. So with the teaching of the 
Apostles. They speak as by moral and religious authority. 
Their arguments are of the popular, ad hominem sort. They 
assume not only a common sense, or a common capacity 
of mental judgement, but capacity of imagination of feeling 
and of moral and spiritual conviction. They assume a 
considerable measure of common experience with life, of com- 
mon moral and religious training and of general prepara- 
tion to receive the truth, when once it is rightly presented. 
The object is to get at the inner life, to intensify moral and 
religious conviction, to remove difficulties by a clear, sug- 
gestive and persuasive presentation of the truth. It is not 
to push the truth upon the mind by processes of logical 
proof. The presentation is largely exposition in popular 
form. The parable, as used by our Lord, is an expository 



356 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

method. It is exposition by illustration. It is also a sort 
of argument. As it interprets it presents reasons for belief. 
It reasons by exposition. Paul reasons from popular an- 
alogies. Argumentative preaching is relatively modern. 
It was not, in the scientific sense, known to the primitive 
church. Scholasticism did not originate it, but it fixed it. 
This involved, if not a false, an extreme conception of the 
needs of the pulpit. Doubtless it did its work after a 
fashion. But it is past. Biblical preaching corrects the 
extremes of the dialectical methods on the one side and 
of the hortatory or non-discussional method on the other 
side. It unites in due proportion the rational and the ethical 
and spiritual. The chief aim is to make Christianity seem 
reasonable and natural an the sense of reasonable, and 
this may be done without formal argument. It is hardly 
worth while to discuss the argumentative method of develop- 
ment. 

And yet a few words may be desirable. There are three 
points of view from which we may look at pulpit argument, 
that of quality, order and tone. 

As regards the quality of homiletic argument, it is de- 
manded first of all that it be substantial and cogent. "A 
lame and impotent conclusion" is likely to involve a 
lame and impotent process of reasoning, which is a dis- 
credit to the preacher. If one undertakes a line of rea- 
soning, he should make it thorough. A preacher loses 
influence by an ineffectual attempt at it. The weakness of 
his argument is charged either to his own intellectual incom- 
petency or to the weakness of his case, and in either event 
he is discredited, in the one case personally, in the other pro- 
fessionally. Processes of reasoning should also be adapted 
to the capacities of one's audience. A line of reasoning 
that will satisfy one class of people may not satisfy another. 
What is sufficient for an untrained mind will not satisfy 



THE DEVELOPMENT 357 

the trained mind. What convinces the man of easy belief, 
may not convince the sceptic. What reaches a candid 
mind may not touch a prejudiced mind. What comes home 
at once to a man of imaginative and emotional tempera- 
ment may find no response from a hard-headed logician. 
Reasoning from the Scriptures may have weight with a 
Christian congregation, but to rely wholly upon such rea- 
soning would be inadequate to its needs, and much more in- 
adequate to the demands of an unbelieving congregation. 
The ordinary hearer is impressed by analogical reason- 
ing. But such reasoning is chiefly of negative value. It 
does not satisfy all the demands of the mind and much of it 
is wholly inconclusive. Argument from facts has increas- 
ing weight. It is a form of appeal to experience. Christ 
made his appeal to facts. He claimed that there were 
certain patent facts that attested his messianic claims. Paul 
defended his "Gospel" by an appeal to alleged facts, the 
facts of Christ's resurrection and manifestation to him. 
An appeal to common-sense judgment and to common or 
personal moral sense, or to the best witnessing of religious 
feeling is generally successful with those who have been 
morally and religiously trained. But others may demand the 
logical forms of premise, proof and conclusion. 

As regards the structure or arrangement of argument, 
the chief demand is that it shall be so ordered as to be 
readily apprehensible. The order will depend on the sort 
of argument. In moral reasoning that seeks a strong final 
impression the cumulative process is necessary. The weight- 
iest argument in the line comes last for the reason that the 
! last word is supposed to be the most weighty and impress- 
ive and that it gathers unto itself and supports and gets sup- 
port from all that precedes. Simplicity of order and of 
statement is another requisite. Involved, laborious, long- 
drawn processes of reasoning are outlawed in our day be- 



358 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

cause they are intolerably tedious. In days when peo- 
ple had more leisure and more patience they would tolerate 
them and seemed to thrive upon them. But no one follows 
them now and their value at any time is questionable. The 
weight of a man's arguments is of more importance than 
the number. 

With respect to the tone of one's reasoning, the primal 
requisite is candor. No preacher who is a special pleader 
or who shuffles or evades difficulties, can hold the confidence 
of right-minded people. Candor is of special importance in 
the discussion of religious problems and above all in the 
/use of Scripture arguments. Unfair reasoning is heavily 
discounted. There is a large element of personal faith in 
people's acceptance of a candid man's reasonings. Assent 
is often secured quite as much by confidence in the candor 
of the man as by the cogency of his arguments. With 
candor should be associated positiveness and strength of 
conviction. The judicial, the positive and candid attitude 
of mind seeks the truth for its own sake or as a positive 
moral good. The apologetic is therefore more satisfactory 
than the polemic method. Polemic discussion easily de- 
generates into partisanship, into uncandidness and unfair- 
ness and may readily become personal and bitter. The 
fighting pulpiteer seeks a personal or partisan advantage, 
rather than the liberation of truth and the conquest of 
error. 

(3) Some of the sources of the didactic development 
may well be considered. The choice of topics will measur- 
ably condition the thought-material of the development. 
But it is also a specific question for the development itself. 
There are general sources upon which the preacher relies 
for his material of thought and of which he avails himself 
in the use of various expository or didactic methods. All 
the material of one's education and culture is, of course, 



THE DEVELOPMENT 359 

a source from which one continually draws. But just here 
we deal with some of the specific sources. 

The Scriptures are one of these sources. We use the 
Bible, not only as the basis for our themes and as the 
basis for topics, as in the textual method, but in the process 
of development as well. We make an immediate use of it 
and in ways other than as proof-texts. It is difficult to use 
detached proof-texts wisely. A false or inadequate inter- 
pretation is almost inevitable. For this reason they are 
generally avoided in our day. But Scripture material may 
be successfully used in a great variety of ways, e. g., by citing 
its biographical and historical material illustratively, by 
citing its acknowledged general truths and principles, by 
citations and the use of its rhetorical and poetic diction. 
If preachers were more familiar with their English Bibles, 
they would probably make more copious use of it. It is 
a source of very instructive and interesting material. Scotch 
and Welsh preachers make abundant use of it and they 
are for this reason among the most interesting and edifying 
of preachers. The value of such use in giving the people an 
acquaintance with the Bible can not be over-estimated. We 
appeal to the Bible primarily because we assume that it 
bears the authority of revelation. It presupposes also a 
response in our moral and religious natures. On this basis 
we use it even in speaking to those who are not professedly 
Christians, and in fact even to those who may deny the 
truth and authority of revelation. But its most successful 
use, of course, presupposes Christian experience, i. e., the 
witness of the inner life and of the teaching Spirit answering 
to the witness of Scriptures without. To the response of native 
intelligence, conviction, feeling, is added the response of 
Christian faith. It assumes that Christian truth is verifi- 
able in Christian experience. Hence, of course, Biblical 
material will have greatest weight with the Christian sec- 



360 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

tion of the congregation, and it is most appropriate in 
pastoral preaching in connection with the worship of a 
Christian assembly. But it does not always assume the 
authority of revelation. The Bible is a body of human 
literature as well as a record of divine revelation. It is 
a treasure-house of human experiences as well as of heavenly 
teachings. It is a source of illustration as well as of au- 
thority, a store-house of suggestion as well as of proof. It 
speaks to the imagination, the sentiments, the feelings as 
well as to the mind and the conscience, and in the use of 
it as such the preacher may be eminently instructive as well 
as quickening. We use the Bible as a literary product. It 
is a source of fresh, attractive material that may be used 
suggestively as well as argumentatively and this is a didac- 
tic use. It is noteworthy that the use of Scriptures by 
Christ and the New Testament writers as a direct source 
of proof in argument, is relatively infrequent. The more 
common use is in the way of fruitful suggestion. It fur- 
nishes analogies or pertinent inferential intimations in var- 
ious forms that put the truth in stronger light and give 
it fresh attractiveness and impressiveness. Most of our 
didactic use of the Bible is literary in its character. It is for 
illustration rather than argument. 

History is another source. History belongs to the general 
realm of human experience, and an appeal to it is one form 
of the appeal to experience, but it may well have distinct 
consideration. Historic facts greatly enrich a man's preach- 
ing. Biblical history is illustrative of wide-reaching ethico- 
religious principles. That so much of the old Testament 
is historical, or has a historic back-ground, explains why 
preaching of the right sort from it is so interesting. But 
secular history as well is of great value to the preacher. 
The historical sermon itself is of great interest and value. 
But the use of historic material for purposes of illustration 



THE DEVELOPMENT 361 

or of discussion or of argument in the development of any 
type of sermon is of equal interest and value. Preachers 
might well utilize more abundantly as material for illustra- 
tion and exposition their reading and study of history. 

The impression which Prof. Drummond's "Natural Law 
in the Spiritual World/' and which the skillful use by 
preachers of scientific facts, has made upon the religious 
public may well suggest the fruitfulness of the realm of 
the physical sciences for the work of preaching. The anal- 
ogies which these sciences suggest may have an ar- 
gumentative significance for the sphere of religion, and 
these facts are of great and varied illustrative worth. If 
preachers would avail themselves more fully of their knowl- 
edge of science, or would seek a fuller knowledge of it, 
in the interest of their work, they might make religion 
seem more real to men. 

So-called secular literature is a much more common source 
for the material of preaching than was formerly the case. 
The best preachers of our day are familiar with it and use 
it with great freedom. Literature, and one might add art, 
are the flower of all best culture, and he who is familiar 
with them is in touch with what is best in his time. How 
greatly Robertson's acquaintance with Wordsworth and Ten- 
nyson, and with literature in general, English and other, and 
with the products of Christian art enriched his preaching! 
Dramatic and romantic literature are especially fruitful 
sources. Most of the notable preachers of our day are 
familiar with the classic Greek and English drama, and there 
are but few preachers of any grade that neglect the modern 
novel. 

Experience, in the broader or in the closer sense, is one 
of the most common sources of appeal. It may be what we call 
the common experience, or the experience of particular men 
or one's own experience. It is a kind of appeal to facts, 



362 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

or what is assumed to be facts. It involves an appeal to 
example or to concrete instances as illustrating a statement 
of fact or principle. The attractiveness, impressiveness 
and searchingness of the best type of modern preaching 
are conditioned by such appeal. Personal experience 
may furnish material for instructive as well as persuasive 
preaching. Wisely handled, and it needs most judicious 
use, it may become a valuable didactic source. Paul's per- 
sonal experiences always had great weight with him in his 
proclamation of his Gentile Gospel, and they had corres- 
ponding weight with others. This is what makes the 
Corinthian, Galatian and Philippian letters so profoundly 
interesting and impressive. I wonder if we adequately 
understand how potent in the furtherance of Pauline Christi- 
anity the story of Paul's life and personal experiences was? 
We talk about the force of Paul's personality. We mean 
by it, or should if we speak understandingly, the power of 
his personal experiences. They are experiences that are 
made significant by the personal force of the man, but it 
was precisely these experiences that evoked the power that 
was in him. The experiences involved in his conversion were 
in fact the turning-point in the fortune of early Christianity. 
Personal experience was a most potent factor in the early, 
successful proclamation in general of the Gospel and it 
was the awakening of new personal religious experience, 
rather than its logical defenses, that saved the Christianity 
of the nineteenth century. The weight of the experience 
will of course, depend largely on the weight of the man, 
and the effectiveness of its use in preaching will depend 
on its importance and on what it illustrates. It must have 
weight in order to sanction its introduction into the pulpit. 
Otherwise it will degenerate into frivolity or cant, and this 
will always bring a reaction against it. It has doubtless 
been overworked in some quarters. But judiciously used 



THE DEVELOPMENT 363 

it will not fail of effectiveness. It is the weight of the man 
and the worth of what he has personally known and felt 
that will condition right use. It may be the experience of 
other men. We quote others' experiences because they in- 
terst us, and because we know that they will interest our 
hearers, because also they have an illustrative value. Stories 
may have an illustrative and so a didactic value. They are 
an appeal to fact as illustrative of principles. And this 
should fix their limits. An excess of story telling is like 
an excess in the use of figurative language. We lose sight 
of the thing illustrated and an impression of intellectual 
not to say moral weakness and frivolity is left with us. It 
may be an appeal to common or general experience. Christ 
appealed to man's judgments as based on common ex- 
perience. The parables furnish such an appeal. Recall 
his appeal on the Sabbath question; which one of you 
does not in fact do the like of this very thing that I am 
now doing, only in a lower realm? It is an appeal to what 
we call common sense, observation and experience. It 
pre-supposes familiarity with life and knowledge of the ways 
of men. Preaching should deal copiously with actual life. 
Life furnishes the richest sort of material. A knowledge 
of men and of the world at large is in increasing demand. 
A study of human life as illustrative of the great truths and 
principles of religion lies behind the best preaching of 
our day and it is this largely that makes religion seem so 
much more natural and human. The study of dramatic liter- 
ature as a portraiture of human life, has chief value just here 
for the pulpit. 

2. The persuasive, or, more comprehensively, the prac- 
tical development. The word practical suggests an effort 
to impress the conscience, and to secure action, rather than 
to secure a strong mental impression. And the word per- 
suasion suggests an appeal predominately to the imagina- 



364 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

tion, to the emotions, and to the moral and religious sen- 
timents. A full discussion of the art and methods of per- 
suasion is not called for just here. It is sufficient, in general, 
to say that all persuasive methods are based on the assump- 
tion and presuppose that the object is first of all appre- 
hensible. It is, therefore, supplemental to the expository 
method, or assumes the work of interpretation as already 
adequately accomplished. But the thing that is apprehen- 
sible and adequately known must next be made to seem de- 
sirable. Persuasion is, therefore, an effort to make the 
truth attractive. But it cannot be made attractive unless 
it is seen and known to be available. To show that the 
object presented is within reach is an important element 
in persuasion. But the crown point in the process of pre- 
senting the apprehensibleness, the desirableness, and the 
availableness of the object, is the enforcement of personal 
obligation with respect to it. Hence it concentrates upon 
the conscience and will. But with respect to persuasive 
methods, the following suggestions are all that seem 
necessary. 

(1) The didactic development may become persuasive 
and in the best sense practical by appropriate handling, and 
such handling presupposes an effort to interpret the truth 
with supreme reference to moral and religious interests. 
Instruction may be so combined with definite, direct, moral 
and religious inculcation that it may become persuasively 
and practically impressive. And this is the best type of 
instructive preaching. By the use of the forms of thought 
and speech that appeal to the imagination and the emo- 
tions one may so handle his expository matter as to reach 
persuasively the heart and the will of the hearer. All the 
expository methods, to which attention has been directed, 
may become in skillful hands, practically effective. A 
study of the didactic methods of popular and skillful preachers 



THE DEVELOPMENT 365 

like Henry Ward Beecher or Phillips Brooks, or Horace 
Bushnell, not to name more recent preachers, would enable 
one to get an insight into the secret of persuasive teach- 
ing. This is better than an abstract discussion of the prob- 
lem. Here one would find concrete illustrations of just 
what one needs to cultivate. But such study would be of 
value only in connection with a proper culture of the im- 
agination and sentiments and feelings, and by a personal 
vital appropriation of the truth as related to the practical 
needs of men. With such study all the sources of the 
didactic development above named, Scripture, history, 
science, literature, experience, as well as all the methods 
suggested, may become tributary to practical impression. A 
concrete handling of the material of thought from any 
source in skillful hands becomes cogent. 

(2) More particularly an illustrative use of material be- 
comes practically effective. The object of illustration is, 
indeed, to make the truth more intelligible, i. e., as the word 
suggests, to throw light upon it. Hence all illustration 
may have didactic value. But it also aims at impressing 
the imagination. Some preachers seem to have a native 
gift for illustrative speech. But, after all, what we often 
call a gift may be the product rather of assiduous culture. 
This gift, although somewhat meagre, may be success- 
fully trained. Many preachers, like Dr. Thomas Guthrie, 
have shown but little indication of the gift in early pro- 
fessional years. 

(3) A pictorial style furthers a practical in so far as it 
is a persuasive and an attractive style of preaching. The 
ordinary pulpit language of many preachers, e. g., like Henry 
Ward Beecher, or Dr. Joseph Parker, consists in word 
pictures. A study of Old Testament diction, or of poetry 
of any sort, becomes tributary to this style. An analytic 
study of figurative language would not be without value. 



366 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

A mastery of grammatical, as well as verbal figures, may 
further a dramatic intensity of style. The cultivation of 
the descriptive style would make preaching more persua- 
sive. Preachers of a graphic, dramatic style do much to- 
wards neutralizing the defects of a barren worship. The 
Bible abounds in material that is expressed in descriptive, 
pictorial form, that invites the study of the preacher. 

(4) The use of anecdotes, proverbs and citations, en- 
riches preaching and becomes conducive to impressiveness. 
Evangelists make abundant use of anecdotes. Luther dealt 
out proverbs from the pulpit with lavish hand, and ad- 
vocated their use particularly in preaching to uninstructed 
people. They rivet attention and abide, and what they 
illustrate is thus more likely to abide with them. Quota- 
tion is, within limits, a valuable rhetorical device. The 
idea of authority is at the bottom of it. One adds weight 
to one's own thought or opinion or sentiment by quoting 
from those whose names are known and have weight in 
any department of knowledge or literature. It is an element 
of persuasion. To the weight or the impressiveness of the 
thought, or experience, is added the weight of the name. 
If the literary form of the citation is peculiarly impressive 
and pertinent it secures additional value. It has additional 
weight in the realm of sentiment and feeling. 

Citations of poetry, which in a prose product are nat- 
urally somewhat restricted and which not infrequently would 
better be presented in paraphrase, have rhetorical value 
because of their poetic suggestiveness of thought, and im- 
pressiveness of artistic form, and may be made much more 
pertinent to the tone and sentiment of the sermon than 
prose citations. Brief fragments of poetic citation are pref- 
erable to long and continuous citation. Such may easily 
become tedious and in the end lessen rather than intensify 
impression. If one will have such a quotation it should 



THE DEVELOPMENT 367 

close the sermon. At the beginning or in the middle, it 
is very objectionable. But the shorter and the more per- 
tinent the better. 

II. Production of Material 

Planning and producing may be quite or nearly simul- 
taneous. Yet they may be to a large extent separable. After 
planning, producing and expanding are generally necess- 
sary. Men differ greatly in their productive power. Some 
generate thought with notable facility, but plan slowly and 
laboriously. Others plan more easily than they produce. 
The easy producer may easily run into disorder and super- 
ficiality. On the other hand the sketching of outlines 
may become a sort of knack. It is not at all difficult even 
for very superficial preachers to acquire facility in the plan- 
ning of sermons. The outcome of such facility may be 
poverty of material. The sermon may be all skeleton. A 
proper regard for both substance and form is needed. Pro- 
duction, however, is much easier for any man, whatever 
his facility or lack of facility may be, in proportion as the 
preliminary work has been well done. If one gets hold 
of his theme and lets it get hold of him, lets it open itself 
out clearly before him, if he makes himself familiar with the 
road over which he is traveling, it should not take him long 
to make the journey. It should not in general be at the 
longest more than a three days' journey. But production of 
the right sort is no easy task for any man, however gifted. 
The problem of production is part of the larger problem 
of general education and culture, of training in professional 
experience and of the larger pedagogy of life. And this 
is far more than a homiletic problem. It can not, therefore, 
be satisfactorily treated merely as such. But there are con- 
siderations bearing upon this general question of training 
and upon the more specific problem of homiletic produc- 



368 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

tion with which homiletics may deal. These considera- 
tions have a direct or indirect, an immediate or remote 
bearing upon the problem before us. Let us look at some 
of them. 

i. I suggest first the need of a habit of mental con- 
centration upon the actual work of sermon production. 
Such concentration, within the limits of a proper range in 
general culture, is necessary to effectiveness in production 
and expansion. No preacher should ever be careless about 
the specific task of sermon preparation. Without care and 
concentration, his work will lack definiteness of aim and the 
intensity, thoroughness and effectiveness that are condi- 
tioned by them. We need the mental and the moral dis- 
cipline of what Emerson calls "the stated task," the lack 
of which in his own experience he lamented. A man who 
does not feel the pressure of professional duty may easily 
lose intellectual as well as moral stamina. A desultory habit 
of life is a fruitful source of frivolity, superficiality and 
mental and moral incompetency. The freedom of minis- 
terial life from the stern exactions of stated hours of work 
endangers the preacher of falling into such a habit. It de- 
mands moral resolution to resist the danger. Every ser- 
mon should aim at a definite, strong, impression. It should 
represent, not only a general and comprehensive, but a 
specific homiletic aim. The preacher should do his best, 
within the given limits, in every sermon. That counsel 
may be given with all possible emphasis. The sermon should 
stand for a moral achievement, and it can not be moral 
achievement if it be not a respectable mental achievement. 
It is a wholesome thing for a man to grapple vigorously 
with a definite mental and moral task. "Invention" is the 
rhetorical term for production. It suggests that thought 
is a discovery. It suggests a mental search. Men differ, 
as already suggested, in their inventive and productive 



THE DEVELOPMENT 369 

powers, but no one produces without effort. Effort, how- 
ever, is easier or more difficult according to the conditions 
under which the effort is made. Such favorable conditions 
as are possible should be secured. Let me venture to sug- 
gest some of them. 

(1) Methods of work suited to one's need. No one can 
work freely and productively who works unnaturally. Effort 
will be unnatural that counterworks one's native tendencies 
and acquired habits. One must consider his habits as well 
as tendencies, for habit is second nature. Men naturally 
as well as habitually work in different ways. One man needs 
a good deal of time for preparation. He must work slowly 
and with deliberation or not effectively. Such a man should 
never permit himself to be pushed into a corner, if he 
can possibly prevent it. Concentration and continuity are 
necessary for most men. They are especially important 
for the man who must work slowly and deliberately. If 
the current of thought is interrupted, it is difficult to re- 
establish it. Such a one should not permit himself, without 
weighty reasons, to be drawn away from his work. One 
man works best with pen in hand, and in entire seclusion. 
It is an unfortunate necessity for any preacher that he 
should be obliged to work in that way. But some of our 
best preachers have been seemingly shut up to this method. 
Such a man should plan his work with reference to his ne- 
cessities. Another man works vigorously while in contact 
with his fellow men in the parish or in the open world and 
in hours of exercise. It is a very desirable habit for a 
hard-pressed pastor, and such a one should make the most 
of that gift. In a word, then, every workman should find 
out his own best method of work, should find out just how 
he can work freely and productively, and effectively, and 
should adjust his work to his real needs. I say "real needs" 
for after all one may possibly train himself to work with 



370 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

a fair measure of freedom under difficulties that at first 
might seem insurmountable. And it must be said that a 
minister's tasks are of such sort that he will be obliged 
to train himself to work under difficulties. But despite 
these limitations every man has his own personal needs. 
They are the result of constitution and temperament as 
well as habit. They should be respected. One can not work 
successfully under constant friction. 

(2) Effort to be at one's best in hours of prepara- 
tion, Perhaps no one is ever in just the same condition 
(physically, mentally or emotionally on two different oc- 
casions. We are subject to variant moods. Little things 
affect us. It is surprising how little. We are more closely 
identified with the world in which we live and our moods 
are more dependent upon it than we suspect. These variant 
moods disclose their results in work for the pulpit. We 
detect them ourselves in different parts of the same ser- 
mon or in the sermon as a whole, and if we fail to detect 
them the watchful hearer does not. The preacher, it is 
evident, was not at his best, in the preparation of the 
entire sermon. The same text, theme, outline will yield 
a different product on two different occasions. The preacher 
is in a different condition productively. These variations of 
mood are measurably unavoidable. It is every man's prob- 
lem to reduce their bad results to a minimum, and to do the 
best he can under existing conditions. They are partly under 
control. At any rate, one can take his mood into account. 
One should not force himself to work when at his worst. 
But one can do more and better than this. By good 
physical habits, proper habits of study and life in general, 
proper choice of hours of work and methods of work, one 
may keep one's self very nearly at one's best for hours 
of preparation. 

(3) Thoroughness in the preliminary work. Without 



THE DEVELOPMENT 371 

this one will find himself obliged, in the work of prepara- 
tion, to pause and make needed corrections in his scheme 
of thought. He may find it necessary to reflect further 
upon his text and theme and to retrace his ground for the 
purpose in fact of securing the mental guidance and quick- 
ening which he should have already secured. If the ground 
is thoroughly gone over at the outset the text and theme will 
constantly disclose their treasures through the medium 
of the plan. One will find that he has tapped a fountain 
that will flow in the right direction, for he has opened a 
channel for it. A free development presupposes such a 
channel. One can not over-estimate the value for free and 
fruitful production of a thorough previous study of the 
subject in its topical contents and relations. New treasures 
under such conditions will constantly come to view that 
otherwise would never have been suggested. 

(4) A firm grasp of the proper definite object of the 
individual sermon. This conditions not only the pertinent qua- 
lity of the development in general, but also facility of produc- 
tion in detail. Definiteness of aim may be urged for the 
sake of impulse in production. Every man who knows any- 
thing about preaching knows this. The glow of enthusiasm 
that is gendered by the stimulus of a definite, strong, earnest 
and loving purpose can not fail greatly to facilitate produc- 
tion. It is psychologically impossible that it should be 
otherwise. Moreover, and this is one of the most important 
practical considerations, the material of thought is readily 
suggested by the concrete, practical relations of the ob- 
jects that fall within the compass of one's homiletic aim. 
The practical character of one's preaching is a condition 
of fruitful invention. 

(5) The presence of the audience with the preacher 
during all the hours of preparation. This i/s necessary 
not only to the production of a sort of material that will be 



372 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

adapted to the needs of one's hearers, and as incentive 
to the production of a vigor and directness that were 
otherwise impossible, but it will inevitably result in 
a general quickening of all the productive activities of the 
mind because they are inspired by the moral energies and 
the religious sympathies of the preacher. The ethical and 
spiritual conditions of "invention" are of even more im- 
portance than the intellectual, and this is the chief con- 
tribution that homiletics is likely to make to the subject. 

2. I suggest secondly the need of broad and generous 
as well as close mental discipline and culture. In advocat- 
ing concentration one should lay proportionate stress upon 
breadth. A general facility in the handling of one's facul- 
ties and the storing of mental resources condition facility 
and fertility in the specific work of sermon preparation. 
The end of all mental training is freedom in the handling 
of one's powers. Preaching becomes constantly easier in 
the process of close, clear, comprehensive and vigorous 
thinking. The problem of the individual sermon is the 
problem of one's general training. In the long run the 
preacher will fail without it. The sermon will always be 
what the man is. In this matter of professional training 
there are two extremes. One extreme would concentrate 
all effort upon the specific work of preaching, upon the in- 
dividual sermon, at the expense of the general training of 
the man. The other would cultivate the man broadly and 
comprehensively at the expense of the preacher and the ser- 
mon. Both aims are necessary. Each, tends to limit the ex- 
treme defects of the other. Either extreme is bad. This 
combination I shall discuss farther on. Just now let us 
consider some of the bad results of a narrow homiletic 
training. These results accentuate the demand for breath 
and range of culture. One bad result is poverty of mental 
resources. No profession calls for so liberal and com- 



THE DEVELOPMENT 373 

prehensive a culture as that of the preacher. Freshness 
and variety both in substance and form are impossible 
without vigor and fulness of mind. A man of narrow cul- 
ture will run dry. In course of time he will have but little 
to say and that little will become monotonous. Men of genius 
have, indeed, without very close or broad training disclosed 
remarkable mental productiveness of a sort, and consider- 
able variety of rhetorical form. But after all these men have 
managed in some way to get more training and to store 
larger mental resources than we might at first suppose. In 
their way they have been very diligent students. They have 
trained the gifts nature bestowed upon them with notable 
diligence, and made the most of themselves. This was the case 
with Mr. Spurgeon. It must be said also that these men, 
like the prophet in contact with the widow's cruse, have been 
able to make the resources of their relatively limited treas- 
ury g° farther and yield more than the ordinary man 
could do. But among preachers of only average ability it is 
the scholarly man that has been most fertile, and this 
fertility has been the product of generous and vigorous train- 
ing from early years. Some one says that the man who 
knows only one religion can not know that adequately. It 
is more apparent in our day than ever before that the man 
who in any line knows but one thing and is trained to do 
only one thing can not know that adequately or do it ef- 
fectively. A mere pulpiteer can not be the best sort of 
preacher, for he is not the broadest, best-trained and most 
productive sort of man. Men of mental vigor feel the nar- 
rowing effect of a small range of professional studies and 
duties, and they seek to broaden themselves by contact with 
men and with the sources of culture outside their calling. 
Every profession has its mental as well as moral limitations. 
Hence the necessity of getting extra-professional points of 
view. This perhaps is preeminently the need of the ministerial 



374 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

calling. It can not be specialistically exclusive and be suc- 
cessful in the largest and best sense. 

Another bad result of narrow professional training is narrow 
sympathies. Broadmindedness is necessary to large-hearted- 
ness and both are necessary to fulness of mental life. It 
is true that a man may have a thoroughly trained mind whose 
heart is left empty and sterile. But it is impossible that 
such a man should have even the intellectual productive- 
ness that a preacher needs. The best kind of mental train- 
ing, while it broadens, enriches and stimulates the mind, pro- 
portionately enriches the heart. Out of such soil we get the 
best sort of fertility. The sermon should come out of a full 
mind and a full heart, and generous culture is necessary 
to both. A preacher should grapple with hard tasks. It is 
a condition of mental and moral manhood. A lazy minister 
is an anomaly and a disgrace to his profession. It is no 
wonder that Phillips Brooks denied that the time could 
ever come when a preacher, whose whole soul is in his work 
and who is constantly training himself in the great school 
of life, would have "nothing to say." The results of close 
and generous training are cumulative, and they appear 
in the afluence of one's preaching. One should not be 
satisfied unless he sees that the task of preaching becomes 
easier, and the quality of the product better. One who is 
always training himself, always adding to his stores of 
knowledge and experience, always increasing the facility 
of his mental action, always enriching the treasures of his 
heart, who has learned to think and is always thinking, has 
learned to love and is always loving, will always have some- 
thing to say that is worth saying and worth hearing. 

I have thus advocated the need of mental and moral 
concentration in the preacher's task and the proportionate 
need of mental range. It is bad to cultivate breadth at 
the expense of concentration and thus become unprofitable 4 



THE DEVELOPMENT 375 

in the ethical and spiritual quality of one's preaching. But 
it is just as bad to cultivate concentration at the expense 
of breadth and thus impoverish one's homiletic resources, 
"Ne quid nimis." 

3. I suggest thirdly and in line with what has already 
been suggested, the need of cultivating what is familiarly 
known as the "homiletic mind." This involves a combination 
of range and concentration in one's mental and moral and 
religious activities. But it involves something more. It 
is more than generous, thorough, vigorous training in gen- 
eral. It is more than concentration upon the individual ser- 
mon, in particular. The effective preacher neither trains 
and cultivates himself without reference to his professional 
calling, nor does he train and cultivate himself with reference 
to his calling in a narrow and particularistic way. "The 
homiletic mind" is the mind that is trained, or that trains 
itself, to make all resources, the general as well as the 
specific, tributary to the work of preaching, or rather to the 
great object of all preaching, the winning and the building 
of men. The best preachers do not impoverish themselves 
by a too specific professional concentration, nor do they 
enrich themselves at the expense of their profession. The 
rather do they enrich their professional service by devoting 
all the wealth of their resources to it. Henry Ward Beecher 
was a most notable example of this habit of mind among 
modern preachers and indeed among all the preachers of 
the church in every age. No preacher of his day, none 
that this country has produced, few if any in any age, 
are to be compared with him in this capacity for accumulating 
vast stores of material from all departments of knowledge, 
ancient and modern, particularly modern, and for the ac- 
complishment of this under the dominance of the didactic 
and ethical impulse to convert this material into homiletic 
pabulum and to concentrate it upon the work of preaching. 



376 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

Few preachers were ever so lavish of material, and few ever 
wasted less. The noteworthy thing is not merely that 
he was a man of transcendent genius, that he had a sur- 
passingly productive, assimilative and intensely active mind, 
all of which is true, but that preaching was with him the 
all-absorbing interest, the passion of his life. He saw 
and felt everything in its relation to its pulpit use, i. e., 
to its ethical and religious significance and value. But to be 
more specific, what does the cultivation of the homiletic 
mind involve? Let us attempt a partial analysis of it. In 
addition to what has already been suggested in general, 
it involves the following particulars. First of all a large 
conception of the work of preaching. He who has such con- 
ception will see that it demands large resources to do the 
work of preaching successfully, and such a one will be 
stimulated to the acquisition of abundant resources in this 
interest. To such a one, nothing that can be converted into 
material for the pulpit will be insignificant. His motto will 
be; "I am a preacher, and I regard nothing that is con- 
vertible into pulpit pabulum as foreign to me." 

And all this will involve a strong professional purpose 
in general. I mean a dominating purpose to make the ser- 
vice of one's professional life as effective as possible. Surely, 
no man who underestimates his profession, who treats the 
work of the ministry lightly or as if it were of secondary 
or subordinate importance will ever be alert to crowd every- 
thing into its service. 

A compelling didactic impulse is essential, i. e., an im- 
pulse to impart to others the truth as one sees it and feels 
it. No one can be a preacher at all, much less a pro- 
ductive preacher, without this. It is a necessary incentive 
in winning from all sources material wherewith to illus- 
trate and enforce the truth one seeks to impart. The mere 
investigator is not a preacher. The preacher interprets 



THE DEVELOPMENT 377 

and imparts, and he investigates in order that he may- 
interpret and impart. 

Allied with this is the ethical impulse. This is not iden- 
tical with the didactic impulse although the one is essential 
to the other for its full realization. Every man, every preacher 
especially, needs something to test the practical significance 
and worth of his knowledge. He above all other men 
needs an available practical knowledge in this "workaday" 
world. He has the needed test in his ethical purpose, or 
rather the needed motive to apply the test of the moral 
needs of men. He will always ask, What am I to do with 
my knowledge; what use can I make of it in the interest 
of my fellow men? What kind of knowledge will be of 
most avail? What am I to do with the fruits of my educa- 
tion and culture? The man who asks and answers these 
questions will be led to assimilate what is practically profit- 
able and will crowd into the background all useless knowl- 
edge and all aimless culture. The field of knowledge in our 
day is so vast that no preacher can reasonably hope to attain 
to much distinction as a specialist or an authority in any 
branch of knowledge outside his own profession, and even 
here it must be limited. Even here he will be obliged to dis- 
criminate as to those branches of professional knowledge 
that are most important for him as a preacher or more 
broadly a minister. What he needs, therefore, is the pur- 
pose and the skill to win such knowledge and such culture as 
may be made most immediately and effectively available for 
the work of preaching, or rather of the ministry and this in 
order that his work may be the more profitable. 

Alertness is, of course, a prominent trait of the homiletic 
mind, an alertness namely that is stimulated by mental, 
moral and emotional earnestness and that exercises the 
imagination freely in the work of winning suggestive 
material. 



378 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 






The habit of fixing material that may be made available 
for future pulpit use is one that finds its strongest motive 
in the culture of the homiletic mind. In these days of 
miscellaneous avocation that exacts upon the preacher, 
taxing his time and strength, some useful method of stor- 
ing material is absolutely necessary. No busy preacher un- 
dertakes to get on without it. Dr. R. W. Dale has told 
us his method.* It is a very judicious method. Many of 
the helps of which preachers avail themselves are worse 
than useless. They are demoralizing. But any method 
that conserves the freedom and vitality of the preacher will 
be a boon to the modern hard-worked pulpiteer. 

4. The importance of religious culture in the interest 
of production calls for specific mention. One's spiritual 
condition in the hours of preparation not only but as 
the habit of life may be more closely allied with 
mental productiveness than at first might be imagined. 
Its necessity for the right sort of productiveness is much 
more 'evident and is still more marked. Impoverished 
spiritual life means unprofitable preaching. It means de- 
vitalized preaching. Mental life is notably quickened, 
strengthened and enriched by the stimulus of the spiritual 
life. A man will grow mentally, as well as morally and 
spiritually, whose purpose is high and whose love for God 
and men is strong. Men not highly gifted mentally or 
rhetorically sometimes win distinguished success in the 
helpful presentation of the Gospel. The man with full heart 
and strong purpose, who also has diligence and good sense, 
will always be likely to have something worth while to say 
in the pulpit. Recall Luther's "Bene orasse est bene 
studuisse." He whose spiritual life is exalted will see the 
more clearly, and feel the more strongly and his purpose 
to bless men will be the more intense and his love and 



*Yale Lectures. Lecture III and IV. 






THE DEVELOPMENT 379 



sympathy the deeper. The most helpful preaching is pro- 
duct of a devout frame of mind and the best type of it is 
impossible without spiritual elevation in the hours of pre- 
paration and delivery. The human soul is one. Mental 
life can not safely be divorced from spiritual life. If one 
would aim supremely at what is profitable in his preach- 
ing, let him cultivate his spiritual life. It has been justly 
said that the use of the Bible, as a basis for preaching, is 
no guarantee for the Christian quality of the sermon. It 
all depends on one's use of the Bible and this depends 
on the condition of one's spiritual life. As a merely external 
source it may be of no more value than the works of Plato. 
It is a deep experience of the power of the grace of God 
in Christ and the nurture of that grace that will secure the 
pulpit from an unprofitable intellectualism and moralism. 
Any divorce of spiritual from mental life will devitalize the 
pulpit. He who loves the truth, not merely for its own 
sake, but for the sake of its worth to one's fellowmen, will 
never degenerate into an unfruitful dogmatist, nor into an 
unfruitful rationalist and moralist. 

5. The necessity of an intelligent and persistent habit 
of producing is evident. Every newcomer must win his own 
facility and must learn to produce in his own way. Right 
habit will win. It is constantly easier to do what one has 
tried to do well. The habit of writing should be perpetuated. 
It should be diligently cultivated especially in the early part 
of one's ministry. One would better write much, even 
though he may not carry his product in its written form 
into the pulpit. 

6. Some consideration of the arrangement of material 
as it is produced with reference to rhetorical interests might 
well close our discussion of the development. In doing 
this, however, we should only traverse ground already pretty 
thoroughly covered in the discussion of the outline. The 



380 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

only points that would need emphasis are those already dis- 
cussed, vis.; unity, completeness, symmetry and progress in 
the process of unfolding. But the discussion of these points 
as related to the development would involve no new features. 
It may be worth while, however, to suggest that it would 
be well to pause at different stages of the development and 
raise the question whether the whole discussion as it pro- 
ceeds is bound directly back to the theme and to the topics 
and whether it presses forward straight to its objective 
point and whether, therefore, the whole thing is bound to- 
gether in unity, each part with every other and with the 
whole; whether the subject is being discussed with sufficient 
fulness at each stage, whether the parts are rhetorically 
proportionate, and symmetrical, and whether the sermon 
has a straight-line movement in all its parts on to the end. 
These questions do not answer themselves, nor can they 
be successfully answered without profit to preacher 
and hearer. They are not intrusive and need not disturb 
the inspirations of the sacred hours of preparation. 



CHAPTER V 

THE CONCLUSION 

The conclusion corresponds to the introduction. Like the 
introduction, it takes into account the hearer's mental and 
emotional state. The problem of the one is to win interest 
for the discussion. The problem of the other is to utilize 
such interest after it has been won. It is in general not 
utilized to best advantage by a sudden break and a dead stop. 
The conclusion accentuates the practical significance of the 
sermon. It may disclose the moral earnestness of the 
preacher. The conclusion, of course, is not the only part of 
the sermon where the truth may be practically applied, but, 
as in the didactic sermon, it is generally the most appropriate 
place for most effective application. It interprets, therefore, 
the practical aim of the sermon. It has, like the introduc- 
tion, an ethical value. It accentuates also the rhetorical 
completeness of the sermon. Without it the sermon would 
lack artistic unity. The conclusion is part of the organism 
of the sermon. Without it there is a lack. It is more than 
artistic incompleteness. An abrupt break in a discussion is 
likely to result in a certain mental as well as aesthetic dissat- 
isfaction. It leaves the impression of mental incomplete- 
ness. It is an unfinished product. The more interested the 
hearer is, the greater the offense of a sudden break in which 
he parts company with the preacher. A conclusion may be 
rapid. It may even be sudden. Better so in general than 
a long-drawn conclusion. The best thing' one may be able 
to do for an audience in exceptional cases is to part company 
with it suddenly. But an abrupt break that leaves the sub- 



382 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

ject unfinished and the whole thing hanging in the air is 
another matter. In dramatic movement, we feel the shock 
of a premature conclusion the more intensely because it is a 
movement in action rather than in thought. The audience 
is wrought up to a high pitch of feeling and is suddenly 
dropped. If the plot is not properly ended, the artistic sense 
is offended. It rightly demands completeness. In this dra- 
matic art represents ideal reality. But as regards the ser- 
mon the principle is the same. The conclusion, therefore, is 
more than a device for announcing to the audience that the 
preacher has reached the end of his discussion. It is a 
device for getting through in the proper way, i. e., gracefully, 
if you please, or better, in such way as will satisfy mental and 
moral needs. Satisfaction for the artistic sense of unity and 
completeness is a relatively insignificant consideration in a 
moral product, like a sermon. But it may stand for some- 
thing more important behind it. And here the aesthetic and 
artistic represent the ethical interest. 

I. The Value of the Conclusion 

From what has been said it may be inferred that in general 
the sermon, whatever its sort, may well have a somewhat 
well-defined conclusion as well as introduction. There 
would certainly be nothing gained from the artistic point of 
view in lopping the head and tail of a sermon, and just as 
little gained from the ethical point of view. 

The value of the conclusion is first of all that it gives the 
subject discussed a new turn. It throws new light upon it 
and secures for it new impressiveness. It thus leaves a new 
idea of what the subject is capable of in the way of fruitful 
suggestion. This is of course eminently true of the inferen- 
tial conclusion. But it is in a way true of all forms of con- 
clusion. 

It also carries the truth home with concentrated force. It 



THE CONCLUSION 383 

is the stroke that has behind it the compact energy of the 
whole sermon. 

And it carries the final impression. There is nothing 
beyond it, to weaken the impression, or to neutralize or dis- 
sipate it. It is the preacher's last chance at his audience. 
Here the gist of the sermon or some most vital and seriously 
important suggestion from it is gathered up into a compact 
mass and thrown, as a last shot, so to say, at the audience. 
It is likely to go home. It certainly will if it be weighty in 
itself, because it is loaded with the cumulative force of the 
entire sermon. Last words stick, if they are what they 
ought to be. This is the reason why importance should be 
attached to them. The practical value of the conclusion may 
be suggested by some of the terms applied to it. The clas- 
sical terms are for the most part without much significance. 
They are chiefly artistic terms suggesting merely the end of 
the discussion, e. g., epilogue, peroration, conclusion. They 
may suggest, however, final impression, and so accentuate 
the practical interest of the discourse. The word "cumulus" 
however, as suggesting the crown-point of the discussion, 
may also convey the notion of gathering up the cumulative 
force of the speech and of applying it at the end. The two 
ideas of cumulative force and final impression were prevalent 
in classical oratory in its conception of the function of the 
peroration. The two chief forms were recapitulation, 
designed to clinch the mental impression of the address, and 
appeal, designed for final emotional impression. The con- 
clusion by inference, which gives the subject discussed a new 
turn in the way of final application and for the purpose of 
fresh mental and ethical impression is chiefly characteristic 
of pulpit oratory. The terms used by Christian rhetoric to 
designate the work of conclusion suggests at once its prac- 
tical character, e. g., "improvement," "use," "application," 
and the terms that come through scholasticism from 2 Tim. 



384 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

3 :i6, "instruction," "reproof," "correction," "admonition" 
and "encouragement." "Observation," "inference" and 
even "recapitulation" suggest also the gathering up of a 
subject or phases of it, with reference to practical use. Thus 
the conclusion makes the practical aim of the sermon the 
more apparent, and would make it the more decisively 
felt. 

The sort, amount and method of the conclusion will, of 
course, depend on the sort of sermon. A didactic sermon 
will naturally have a conclusion corresponding to its charac- 
ter and aim. It will be fitted to help on its didactic purpose, 
i. e., to leave as clear and strong an impression as possible of 
the weight and importance of the subject discussed. An 
ethical or evangelistic sermon will naturally have a conclu- 
sion of a more emotional and hortatory character. But it 
will be brief. The practical character of the sermon will 
have been apparent throughout and there will be the less 
need of extended practical application at the end. The need 
of formal and carefully-defined conclusion, therefore, is 
somewhat limited, limited, that is, by the character and aim 
of the sermon. There are two classes of sermons that have 
no special use for such a conclusion. There is the sermon 
in which the subject is continuously applied in the process 
of discussion, e. g., the textual or expository or biographical 
or historical sermon. The truth in these types of sermons 
is not always continuously applied. In the biographical and 
historical sermon the application is sometimes separated 
from the discussion. On the whole, however, that would 
seem to be the better sort of textual, expository, biograph- 
ical and historical sermon that applies the truth in the 
process of discussion. In fact it is rather difficult to secure 
an application at the end of such a sermon without injuring 
its unity. In the hortatory sermon only a brief word of 
conclusion is necessary, in general the briefer the better. A 



THE CONCLUSION 385 

quick moving and even abrupt conclusion may not be inap- 
propriate in a sermon in which emotion runs high all 
through and that increases up to the end. Still a detached 
last word is always best. The topical sermon also, and 
especially one of the argumentative type in which the discus- 
sion forms a climax in which the interest is cumulative, 
may be less dependent on a distinct formal conclusion. The 
last topic of the discussion, which reaches the crown-point of 
the process, may often well constitute the point of attach- 
ment for the conclusion. A brief final word in line with the 
thought-impression of this last topic may be the most fitting 
and effective thing. To pause and turn the thought of the 
audience aside from this final impression by undertaking to 
gather up reflections into a conclusion from the subject as a 
whole might weaken the impression already produced. In 
general, however, the topical sermon of the didactic sort 
calls for a distinct conclusion based on the entire discussion. 
The value of an effective discussion is generally best secured 
by an independent application. In a weighty and absorbing 
discussion the hearer does not wish to be perpetually dis- 
turbed by the preacher's effort to apply what he is seeking 
to elucidate. If one is interested in a discussion he does not 
wish to stop to moralize. At the end, however, the intelli- 
gent listener is ready for the application and he expects it. 
In sermons with close-wrought unity, and rapid movement, 
vividly illustrated and expressed with emotional vigor, all 
necessity for pausing in the process for application is super- 
seded. The application comes better at the end, where the 
whole subject may be used effectively. In fact the didactic 
topical sermon furnishes suggestions in the way of inference 
or deduction that can in general be secured only at the end, 
where the whole subject may be gathered up into a conclu- 
sion. And yet in many cases the last topic may be the best 
point of attachment for the conclusion. This must be left to 



386 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

the ethical and rhetorical instincts of the preacher, and the 
character of his discussion will furnish his basis of judgment. 

II. Qualities of the Conclusion 
Such qualities as are here discussed are in the main applic- 
able to every sort of conclusion, whether of a didactic or 
practical character. 

1. Distinctness is first of all the mark of a good conclu- 
sion. Like the introduction it may well be slightly detached 
from the main body of the sermon. It is well if it be not 
undistinguishably entangled in the discussion, as it some- 
times was in the preaching of Chalmers. Where the last 
topic of a cumulative discussion furnishes a basis for the con- 
clusion, it is less likely to be detached, as we see not infre- 
quently in the preaching of Chrysostom, of Robertson and 
of Chalmers. But it is not well that any discussion run 
without some pause, however slight, plump up to the end 
and stop abruptly. It is better to make it apparent that one 
is using the last topic as a basis for a conclusion, than to 
leave the impression that he is running the discussing full 
tilt up to the end. Not even a hortatory sermon should end 
thus. Better some slight pause, accompanied by some 
change of attitude, and some change in the tones of the voice 
to indicate that the preacher would approach his audience 
with his final word. Much of the preaching of our day 
undervalues the conclusion, frequently ignoring it, altogether, 
running the discussion straight to the end, making no prac- 
tical use of the subject, not even applying it in the main body 
of the sermon. The latter part of the sermon often shows a 
falling off in mental and emotional vigor. There is a lack of 
cumulative power, of which the conclusion should avail itself. 
This is a serious defect. No great message can be effec- 
tively conveyed if the preacher flats out in anticlimax. 

2. Applicableness is another quality. The conclusion 



THE CONCLUSION 387 

pre-supposes the end of the discussion. It is, therefore, the 
close of the whole sermon. The rhetorical terms "perora- 
tion" and "epilogue" seem to suggest this. The peroration 
is that which completes the entire speech. The epilogue is 
that which is added at the end of the discussion. This is true 
even of the conclusion that attaches itself to the last topic 
discussed. Thus the conclusion corresponds to the intro- 
duction. As the one does not anticipate, so the other does 
not end the discussion. Like the introduction, however, it 
has a very close thought-relation with the discussion. It 
takes up some aspect or aspects of the subject that have not 
appeared directly in the discussion, but are naturally sug- 
gested by it. It may be some aspect of the whole subject, 
in which case the thought unity of the sermon is the more 
adequately conserved. The whole discourse from beginning 
to end is thus bound together. The introduction has led up 
to the subject as a whole and the conclusion uses 
the subject as a whole. In the didactic discourse this is 
generally the case. And yet, as already suggested, the con- 
clusion may take up the last point discussed. In this case 
the sermon should be so shaped that the most important topic, 
from the rhetorical point of view, should come last. Thus 
the teleological unity of the sermon is conserved. 

3. Pertinence is an allied quality. This does not take 
care of itself. Ineptness is not an impossible homiletic sin, 
and it is quite as fatal to harmony in the conclusion as it is 
in the introduction. Better stop short than flat out. Better 
violence than inconsequence. Ineptitude suggests that the 
preacher does not keenly sense the import of what he has 
been saying or what he now says, or that he is weary of the 
discussion and doesn't care what he says next, so only he 
may make an end of the discussion, and says what happens 
to come into his head without reference to its pertinency. 
One should be at his best in bringing the sermon to a close. 



388 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

In connection with this matter of pertinence two questions 
occur that are worth a moment's consideration. 

The first relates to the use of contrast in the conclusion. 
The principle of harmony would on the face of it, seem to 
reject contrast. One would say that the conclusion should 
correspond in sentiment, feeling, tone, as well as thought, 
with the discussion. If the sermon is admonitory or 
severely ethical in tone the conclusion should correspond. 
It should not be parenetic or paracletic. It should carry 
through to the end the tone of ethical severity. If the ser- 
mon is evangelistically emotional, the conclusion should not 
be mentally reflective or didactic. In general this' may be 
the correct view. And yet it is not safe to apply this as a 
regulative law. Contrast is often more effective than corre- 
spondence. In fact it may be in truest harmony with the 
final purpose of the sermon. It was Schleiermacher's 
opinion that no Christian sermon should ever end with a 
tone of judicial or ethical severity. Every sermon, whatever 
its character, should close with a tone of Christian hopeful- 
ness and joyfulness. This opinion can not perhaps be fully 
justified. But it is evident at once that it would often intro- 
duce the principle of contrast, and doubtless with good 
result. It is doubtless true that the note of hope and joy 
is eminently Christian and indeed often rhetorically most 
effective at the close of a sermon that has dealt searchingly 
with the heart and conscience. What is most Christian is 
likely to be most effective rhetorically. But Schleier- 
macher's principle is rhetorically inadmissible after all, for 
the principle of contrast may equally well demand that a 
sermon end with a tone of solemn admonition. A preacher's 
spirit should, of course, always be Christian. But ethical 
and rhetorical pertinence may be a safer guide than even 
Christian gentleness and graciousness in concluding a sermon 
that has spoken hopefully to the heart. It is often necessary 



THE CONCLUSION 389 

to leave the truth with the conscience, and the last word of 
warning may be most pertinent to the moral purpose of the 
sermon as well as most powerful, and no rule of Christian 
sentiment should displace it. The contrast between grace 
and severity may be as effective as that between severity and 
grace. It is well to set hope in contrast with admonition. 
But it may be equally well to set admonition over against 
hope. Contrast here may be more effective than correspon- 
dence. Much depends on the concrete conditions of the 
case. 

The second question relates to the use of prayer in the 
conclusion. It may be even more impressive and pertinent 
than in the introduction. From sermons of a prevailingly 
didactic character, in which no very strong ethical or emo- 
tional impression is sought or made, it is naturally excluded. 
But the emotional sermon that seeks and secures strong 
ethical and religious impression and that is cumulative in 
emotional power may well end in prayer. It is very natural 
in such a sermon to pass into a brief utterance of adoration, 
or ascription, or petition. It may harmonize well with the 
whole tone of the sermon. It may fall into line with the 
character and design of worship. There is a closer connec- 
tion between some types of preaching and worship, and 
more specifically prayer, than may be apparent. To the 
oriental it is more apparent than to the occidental mind. 
We find this in the preaching of the New Testament. The 
English preachers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centu- 
ries were accustomed to close their sermons with an ascrip- 
tion to the Trinity. It was a matter of form and often 
lacked pertinence, but it accentuated the close connection 
between preaching and prayer. German preachers, who in 
general hold the sermon closer to worship than American 
preachers do, often close, as they open, with prayer. Dr. 
Horace Bushnell closes his sermon "Putting: on Christ" with 



390 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

the words, "Cover us in it" (i. c, thy righteousness), "O thou 
Christ of God and let our shame be hid eternally in Thee." 
Cardinal Newman sometimes did this with exquisite taste 
and with intense earnestness, interjecting prayer into the 
midst of the sermon as well as at the close. The tone of 
the sermon should, of course, be exalted to sanction it. It 
may be noted finally that closing with the words of the text 
is a pertinent device. Dr. Joseph Parker and Mr. Spurgeon 
often do this. The most appropriate thing one can do some- 
times is to close with the same remark with which the 
sermon opened, this binding the beginning and the end 
together. 

4. Conciseness is one of the qualities of a good conclu- 
sion. It can afford to be concise because it is based on the 
cumulative results of the discussion. This is true especially 
of the sermon that is emotionally strong and that moves 
rapidly to a climax. A compact, sententious conclusion is 
the most fitting sort of conclusion for an audience that is 
already aroused emotionally. Even an abrupt conclusion 
may be most fitting. It depends, of course, on the sort of 
sermon and the effect already produced. The reflective or 
inferential conclusion that ends a didactic discussion is 
naturally longer and more deliberate than a conclusion by 
appeal. But compactness and brevity are the rule. Dr. 
Bushnell, after some of his most vigorous discussions, dis- 
closes the conviction that he has said enough, and that there 
would be a loss of power in an extended conclusion, adding 
as his nearly last word: "We need no conclusion." It is 
noteworthy, however, that even after this he rounds out the 
sermon with a distinct conclusion, brief though it be. Bush- 
nell's preaching shows that the topical sermon, whic,h calls 
for an inferential application of the subject, has naturally a 
longer conclusion than the textual sermon. Conciseness in 
the conclusion is in harmony with the tastes of our time. 



THE CONCLUSION 391 

The long-drawn five-fold conclusion of the scholastic sermon 
was appropriate to the character of that type of preaching. 
It was a method of securing practical application, which was 
almost wholly lacking in the main body of the sermon. The 
brief, simple conclusion of our day is in harmony with the 
character of its preaching. 

III. Methods of the Conclusion 
All methods may be grouped under two classes, the 
didactic and the impressional. One speaks prevailingly to 
the mind, the ot,her to the emotions. In classical oratory 
the deliberative and judicial types of address attached im- 
portance to the didactic conclusion, i. e., it sought first of all 
to clinch and perpetuate the mental impression of the speech. 
The epideictic type of address affected especially the emo- 
tional or impressional conclusion. After recapitulation, 
which may be called the didactic conclusion, there was also 
added to the deliberative and judicial address an emotional 
appeal. The character of the question, of the discussion and 
of the audience would determine the character and extent of 
the appeal. In general the emotional conclusion had a 
prominent place, however, in classical oratory, for its task 
was to arouse to action a populace that was dependent on ora- 
torical excitement. The character of the conclusion some- 
what strikingly suggests the difference between ancient and 
modern and especially classical and Christian oratory. The 
didactic conclusion perhaps may be called one of the distin- 
guishing marks of Christian oratory. It does not appeal 
primarily to the emotions or passions of men but to thought 
and reflection and to emotion and will as influenced by intelli- 
gence. Different types of Christian discourse are also dis- 
tinguished by the character of the conclusion. The writer 
agrees with Dr. Dawson that from the modern sermon, and 
especially the American sermon the note of appeal has too 



392 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

largely vanished. But it is still true that the didactic conclu- 
sion will always be characteristic of the pastoral sermon, 
while the emotional conclusion or conclusion by appeal will 
always be characteristic of the evangelistic sermon. 

But let us look at some of the most common methods of 
conclusion and at their adaptations. 

I. Recapitulation, which is the summary of topics, or 
resume, which is a fuller summary of the contents of the ser- 
mon, is properly a part of the discussion rather than of the 
conclusion. In fact it rarely ever concludes a sermon. 
Something is generally added after it. Thus in the classic 
oration. The conclusion was less than the peroration. It 
was the end of it, and followed the recapitulation, making 
use of it as a basis for appeal. The recapitulation, however, 
was regarded as a part of the peroration, rather than of the 
main body of the discussion. In homiletics it is generally 
treated as a form or method of conclusion, and we will so 
regard it. It may be easily detached from the discussion 
and thrown across into the conclusion, as a preparation for 
practical application. In two classes of sermons recapitula- 
tion is especially desirable. 

First in sermons without clearly-differentiated topics or 
formal divisions, like those of Dr. Chalmers, Canon Mozley 
and Cardinal Newman. Many at least of the discourses of 
these great preachers would be of greater value even to the 
reader with a brief resume of contents or recapitulation of 
topics. If one does not care to obtrude his outline he is 
beholden at least to the average hearer to make a summary 
of his topics. There are, of course, sermons that need no 
recapitulation, those for example, that are, like many of 
Newman's, dependent upon rhetorical impression rather 
than upon elaborate discussion, for their effectiveness. But 
sermons without clear outline that discuss important themes 
demand recapitulation as really as the old classic deliberative 



THE CONCLUSION 393 

or judicial oration demanded it. Lawyers often express 
surprise that preachers do not recapitulate more. A 
preacher should surely be as intent upon carrying his case as 
a lawyer, although the case to be carried and one's idea of 
carrying it may be very different. What the lawyer means 
by carrying his case is that he must get it so effectively 
before the jury that he will carry them. Recapitulation 
aids him in doing this. And what less can or should a 
preacher mean by carrying his case than to put his subject 
before his hearers just as effectively as possible with refer- 
ence to the accomplishment of a moral and religious result? 
The aim is to bring the hearer into subjection to the power 
of truth. If recapitulation will aid one in getting his subject 
more effectively before the hearer with reference to this 
result, as it often will, why should he not recapitulate as the 
skilful lawyer does? Of course there must be something to 
recapitulate. It presupposes a discussion, although not 
necessarily of an elaborate sort. We do not recapitulate 
the utterances of sentiment and emotion that are dependent 
on first impression and can not be reproduced by any reca- 
pitulatory process. 

The doctrinal, the argumentative or didactic discourse of 
the weightier sort calls for recapitulation. If we were to 
limit recapitulation to the doctrinal or argumentative type 
of sermon, the pulpit would doubtless get on without it. 
But all weighty-didactic discussion needs it. By the use of 
it such discussion may thereby secure even a certain sort of 
rhetorical cogency. To grip the truth and to condense it 
into compact form is of itself an element of force, and a habit 
of doing this may even become tributary to a more forceful 
method of discussion. 

2. Remark, observation or reflection. These terms all 
have reference to the more practical use of the subject dis- 
cussed which the conclusion calls for. A remark is a brief 



394 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

practical suggestion based on some aspect of the subject in 
hand. An observation is a somewhat more extended and 
carefully-considered suggestion based on what one observes 
or discovers of the practical bearings of the subject in dis- 
cussion. One pauses at the end and looks at the subject 
from a new point of view in order to see what he may find 
there that is practically useful in the way of suggestion. A 
reflection means about the same thing. It is a suggestion 
that comes as a result of turning the subject back upon the 
familiar observations, experiences and thought-habits of life. 
The observation is a species of inference, for it comes from 
the subject or from some phase of it in an inferential way. 
But it is appropriate to the simpler class of subjects or to 
the simpler class of discussions. It is particularly appro- 
priate to the biographical or historical sermon. It comes 
in the form of practical application on suggestion. It aims, 
not so much to magnify the subject to the intelligence of the 
hearer, with reference to educative results by increase of 
knowledge, as to make a practical impression upon the 
heart and conscience and so upon the life of the hearer. 
Prof. George Shepards' sermon, "Saul, the Regressive in 
Piety" illustrates this. It closes with two observations, re- 
flections or practical lessons : (i) We should be afraid of the 
beginnings of sin; (2) the faults that wreck men are the 
hidden, not the obtrusive ones. The sermon "The Giver of 
the Two Mites" also illustrates : (1) The heart quality in 
giving is the chief thing. We are responsible for this. (2) 
The amount of good done is determined by this. (3) We are 
in little danger of giving too much. These are indeed infer- 
ences, but of the simple, practical sort and are designed to 
perpetuate ethical rather than mental impression. 

3. Inference. An inference is a remark that is based not 
on a direct but indirect contemplation of a subject, i. e., on 
some sort of logical deduction. It is a judgment based on 



THE CONCLUSION 395 

the logical relations of thought in the subject. It is adapted 
to the didactic sermon of the more weighty sort. It 
addresses primarily the reflective faculties. It is a mental 
and moral judgment based on the thought-relations of the 
discussion. As if the preacher would say: Granting that 
what I have said in this discussion be true, you can see for 
yourselves that the following inferential judgments or sug- 
gestive teachings must also be true; in view of all that has 
been said, you can see as follows ! But although speaking 
to the hearers' judgment, it may be one of the most effective 
ways of reaching the convictions and emotions. It may 
bring the subject home with great power. It puts one in a 
dilemma: You approve of what I have said? You are con- 
vinced and will not deny it? Well, then, this rational, this 
logical and very practical conclusion follows from it, and you 
cannot evade the import of it. Inference, therefore, may be 
used with great practical effect. Its power lies partly in the 
fact that it brings the truth to bear upon the hearer 
indirectly. It gets at him by getting around him. Take as 
an example the conclusion of Dr. Bushnell's sermon, 
"Christ Waiting to Find Room." Note the inferences : 
(1) From the basis of the discussion we see inferentially why 
Christianity is not respected. "Our Gospel fails because we 
so poorly represent the worth and largeness of it." (2) We 
see why there is so much polemical theology. "The true 
hospitality is that of the heart, not of the head, etc. If 
only the great heart-world of the race were set upon to full 
entertainment of Jesus, there would be what a chiming of 
peace and unity in the common love." (3) We see why 
Christianity makes so little head. No room for him in our 
zeal. "Why does Christianity make such slow progress? I 
answer Christ gets no room, as yet, to work and to be the 
fire in men's hearts he is able to be." (4) We see why we 
should grieve over the patience he is obliged to exercise 



396 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

towards us. "But what most of all grieves me is that Christ 
himself has so great wrong to endure in the slowness and 
low faith of so many ages." (5) We see why we should 
hasten to make room for him. "All the sooner, brethren, 
ought we to come to the heart so long and patiently grieving 
for us." A most weighty conclusion not only in the realm 
of judgment but in the realm of feeling and conviction as 
well. Note the cumulative arrangement of the inferences, 
ending with the most practical and personal. They come 
with strong logical and ethical conclusiveness. We can not 
escape this impression of conclusiveness. 

Professor Shedd has directed the attention to the value of the 
inference in the discussion of subjects whose importance lies 
not wholly in themselves but in the truths that flow from 
them.* That is, the power of the inferential conclusion is 
best realized in the use of themes that naturally furnish 
weighty and impressive logical conclusions and suggestions. 
Its force depends on its close, logical, necessary connection 
with the primary truth. The force of comparison lies in the 
fact that it sets truths in their analogous relations, i. e., rela- 
tions of likeness of principle. The power of contrast lies in 
so setting the objects of thought over against one another 
that we the more readily detect the relations of truth and 
error. The power of inference or deduction is in the fact 
that it sets truth in its logical and necessary relations, i. e., 
in its relations of cause and effect or of antecedent and con- 
sequent. It gives one an impression of the logical, gripping 
power of the truth. It is the more effective that it comes 
with rhetorical force upon the emotions as well as with log- 
ical force upon the understanding. Note two more of Dr. 
Bushnell's inferential conclusions, e. g., "Salvation by man."f 
Christ saves us by getting into and abiding in corporate 



* Homiletics, page 198. 

f "Christ and his Salvation." XIII. page 271. 



THE CONCLUSION 397 

relations with the race. This is the thought of the sermon. 
Inferences : (i) We see that there is a power of perpetual 
self-renewal In the race. (2) Responsibility of Christ's dis- 
ciples. The world is saved through the Church. (3) En- 
couragement to patience. The world must be saved slowly. 
(4) God's delicacy in providing salvation not only for us but 
by us. "The Insight of Love." * The value of insight above 
that of dialectic or casuistry in dealing with religious sub- 
jects is the thought. Inferences : (1) Insight is needed in 
order to understand Christ. (2) In settling the perplexities 
of the Christian life. (3) It is an impelling power as con- 
trasted with selfish prudence. (4) It is a characteristic of 
heavenly society. Note here the great range and variety of 
truths wrapped up in the primary truth discussed and thus 
brought out. All this greatly enriches preaching. Without 
these inferential processes one would fail to see the scope 
and the suggestiveness of the primary truth. And this 
process is a most effective way of reaching the heart and con- 
science as well, especially of the thoughtful hearer. 

Two qualities are essential to effective inference. (1) The 
logical element of pertinence. A deduction should come 
naturally. It should be near at hand, not strained, remote, 
far-fetched, nor yet so near at hand as to be too obvious and 
thus commonplace. It should readily and naturally furnish 
a new aspect of the subject, i. e., a somewhat more direct 
and practical, although subordinate aspect than the discus- 
sion has furnished, and yet it should not be so obvious as to 
be platitudinous. (2) The rhetorical element of brevity and 
conciseness. The multiplication and prolix elaboration of 
inferences are not in harmony with the mental habits and 
tastes of our time. There are many things that might be 
deduced inferentially from the theme that may not be in 
harmony with the aim of the sermon or with its limits. The 



* "Christ and his Salvation." III. page 51. 



398 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

topics that are deduced should be presented suggestively 
rather than expansively and exhaustively. 

4. Exhortation or appeal. Recapitulation, observation, 
inference seek the will largely through the mind. Exhorta- 
tion includes all direct appeal to the feelings and to the 
conscience, reaching the practical activities through the 
emotions and moral convictions rather than through the re- 
flective faculties. Inference and other forms of the didactic 
conclusion perpetuate the mental appeal, and leave con- 
science and will to appropriate the result. Exhortation 
assumes the work for intelligence as already done, and moves 
on with its assumed mental result directly upon the emo- 
tional and moral sphere. Most people are somewhat de- 
pendent upon appeal that stirs emotion. In fact everybody 
is measurably dependent on it, although a sort of appeal 
that reaches one man may not reach another. Certain 
types of emotion are discredited in our day. Intelligent 
people discount all emotion that is not based on or asso- 
ciated with sane thinking. It is charged that the pulpit of 
our day has measurably lost the power of appeal. And it is 
a fact that there is but relatively little hortatory preaching. 
One reason is doubtless that hortation has been overdone. 
Another reason is, however, that the intellectual element in 
religion has been over-accentuated. And another still is 
that we lay more stress upon action than upon emotion in 
the religious life. We see this measurably in modern evan- 
gelistic methods. Thomas Carlyle, the great apostle of 
action, whose influence on this line in the last century was 
very great, has, in his semi- jocose, grotesque fashion, re- 
corded his idea of practical preaching as follows: "If I were 
a preacher," he says, "I would tell the people on Sunday 
what to do, and then when they came back next Sunday I 
would ask them, well, have you done that? How much of 
it have you done? None? Then go home and do it." If 



THE CONCLUSION 399 

this were to be taken seriously, as of course it is not, 
although it is the Carlylean method of accentuating the 
Gospel of work, we should have to regard it as pure charla- 
tanism. If the man who uttered it expected his prescription 
to be taken seriously, he would show himself to be neither a 
philosopher nor an orator. It disregards the necessity of 
recognizing tjie principles of duty as distinguished from mere 
prescriptions of duty. A man must appropriate the principle 
before he is likely intelligently to heed the prescription. It 
ignores also the dependence of action on aroused conviction 
and of conviction on aroused emotion. It is not the preach- 
er's primal task to present the rules of duty in detail, but to 
present and enforce the principles of duty and to stimulate 
to action by stirring conviction and emotion. Much that 
might be said about the hortatory conclusion were better 
said in a discussion of the hortatory type of preaching in 
general. But a few considerations are especially pertinent 
to the conclusion. 

(1) The most effective hortation rests upon a didactic 
basis. Successful appeal presupposes a solid foundation. 
Strong, well-directed, rational emotion, the only kind that it 
is desirable to excite in a worshipping or in fact in any 
other kind of assembly, cannot be secured without solid 
ground in intelligence. A mental movement that increases 
in strength is desirable. Neither preacher nor hearer is 
ready for effective exhortation without suitable mental prep- 
aration. We are disgusted with perfervid explosions that 
seem to have no basis. We look with amazement and dis- 
trust upon a man who has no rational justification for his 
heat and sweat. It is unfortunate that what is called "pulpit 
emotion" should be regarded as synonymous with unintelli- 
gence and unreality. A worked-up emotion is a most unde- 
sirable product because it is irrational and unethical. 

(2) Definiteness and pertinence are essential in all effec- 



40o THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

tive appeal. A direct appeal presupposes the direct appli- 
cation of some particular moral truth or some specific phase 
of it. The previous discussion must lay the foundation for 
it. Exhortation on the basis of generality is wholly incon- 
sequential. Something specific is presupposed with respect 
to which the appeal is made. What is specific is direct and 
what is direct is forceful. A generalized hortation has no 
mark and no shot. 

(3) Reality is the primal moral virtue of exhortation. 
Appeal that is intelligent, pertinent, direct and specific will 
be natural, and as natural real. No exhortation will ever 
be effective that does not rest upon a psychological and 
ethical basis. Mere intellectual enthusiasm, product of cum- 
ulative mental excitation and interest in the subject discussed 
is not enough, although this is presupposed and is of primal 
importance. But there must be a genuine love of the truth 
as working truth and a genuine love for men as well. Other- 
wise we shall have only a species of professional hortation. 
It is a genuine moral devotion to the truth, truth as a per- 
sonal moral interest and loving devotion to the welfare of 
men that are necessary to save preaching from profession- 
alism. 

(4) Concentration is essential to cogent appeal. If it be 
direct and specific it is the more likely to be concentrated. 
All conclusion may well be compact and succinct. Under 
normal conditions it will be. The sentences are likely to be 
shorter and more abrupt. We crowd more into them. 
Note the last sentences of Robertson's sermons. The struc- 
ture of the sentences, the vocabulary, the figures of speech 
are more intense than in other parts of the sermon. Espe- 
cially condensed should be the conclusion by appeal. It is 
natural that it should be and naturalness is what we want, 
for naturalness is reality. A few terse sentences dropped 
like red-hot coals into the mind and heart may effect amazing 



THE CONCLUSION 401 

results. Sometimes the most impressive thing possible is a 
final repetition of the text, especially if it be in itself impres- 
sive, and if it comes laden with the cumulative impressions of 
the discussion. If a sermon does justice to an impressive 
text it will come back upon the hearer with tenfold power 
at the end. Sometimes a brief snatch of poetry, a line of 
some hymn full of deep religious feeling, a passage of Scrip- 
ture cognate with the text, a short utterance of hope or of 
foreboding, a brief appeal to action, a short utterance of 
prayer, an ejaculation, an apostrophe, — all this if the ground 
be well laid may sweep the hearer up quite to the gate of 
heaven. But whatever it be, its effectiveness will depend on 
its brevity and concentration. If the sermon has already 
done its needed work, the last thirty seconds will be laden 
with the cumulative energy of the previous thirty minutes. 



CHAPTER VI 

THE RHETORICAL FORM 

Structural form is confessedly our chief interest in the 
discussion of methods of homiletic art. But formal homi- 
letics legitimately includes questions of rhetorical and ora- 
torical expression. The latter receives but little, doubtless 
too little, attention in our day. But it is best taught in the 
class-room by modern experts in the art of expression and 
a collation of oratorical commonplaces by one who knows 
but little about the subject would be of small value to our 
discussion. The study of rhetorical form also was formerly 
regarded as of more importance than it is now. The reasons 
are many. The study of language does not hold the place it 
once held in our educational processes. In the widening of 
the field of knowledge the pressure of other departments has 
made itself felt in the sphere of linguistics. The physical 
sciences have asserted their claims and now the so-called 
social sciences are at the front. There is less time for rhe- 
torical studies and less importance is naturally attached to 
them. Men are after what they regard as more practical 
branches of knowledge. What to say is of more importance 
than how to say it. The study of ancient and foreign lan- 
guages has largely displaced the study of our own, and even 
in the recent revival of the study of English in our fitting 
schools and colleges the literary interest in the comprehen- 
sive sense dominates the more specific rhetorical interest. 
It may be questioned whether educated men write and speak 
English as well as educated men a hundred or even fifty 
years ago. 



THE RHETORICAL FORM 403 

The newspaper press has had its influence. Thought 
reaches us more fully through the eye than through the ear, 
and what addresses the eye is differently expressed from that 
which addresses the ear. He who writes without reference 
to speaking, like a newspaper reporter or editor, may easily 
fall into negligent habits in his use of language. There is 
doubtless an improvement in newspaper English but in 
general it is very poor English. We see the results in pulpit- 
speech. What the preacher says is the chief thing of im- 
portance. There is even a prejudice against the discussion 
of pulpit style. There is a reaction .against rhetorical 
standards, and the whole subject of rhetorical form falls into 
neglect, as if it were no matter how a man says his say if 
only he have something to say. Somehow it will manage to 
say itself. The pulpit has generally been in conflict with so- 
called secular rhetoric and oratory. Its history shows a 
singular succession or series of approximations towards and 
of revulsions from the secular standards. Questions of 
matter and tone are, of course, always of supreme impor- 
tance. Sincerity and reality are the cardinal virtues of the 
man who speaks for Christ. But preaching that minimizes 
the value of literary form can never be the best type of 
preaching. The pulpit can not emancipate itself from the 
laws of human speech as it can not from the laws of human 
thought and feeling. Preaching is speech of the highest and 
noblest type. It should be worthy of itself. Let us there- 
fore consider this question a little more fully. 

I. The Claims of Rhetorical Culture 

1. The relation of thought to speech accentuates the 
importance of rhetorical culture. The closeness of connec- 
tion necessitates the culture of form in the interest of sub- 
stance, as well as of the culture of substance in the interest 



404 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

of form. What one says has intimate connection with the 
manner in which he says it. Ratio and oratio are two sides 
of the same thing. One suggests substance, the other form, 
but they are organically one. The science of language is 
one phase of the science of thought. Max Miiller, the philo- 
logian, wrote a work on the science of thought from the 
philological point of view, and John Locke, the philosopher, 
found it necessary in dealing with thought to consider its 
relation to language. He says,* "I find that there is so close 
a connection between ideas and words, and our abstract 
ideas and general words, have so constant a relation one 
to another, that it is impossible to speak clearly and distinctly 
of our knowledge, which all consists in propositions, without 
considering first, the nature, use and significance of lan- 
guage." "Style" at first meant a man's pen-stylus. Then it 
came to mean penmanship, chirography or manner of 
writing with a pen. A close connection is etymologically 
suggested here. Pen-man-ship. Pen, the instrument used. 
Man, the agent using it. Ship, shape, form or method in 
which the pen is used, as disclosed by the product of use. 
Penmanship is the method in which a man uses the pen. 
Here is a basis for the notion, often doubtless over-stated, 
that a man discloses his personal peculiarities in his hand- 
writing. But at last the word style naturally comes to mean 
the way in which a man expresses himself in language. The 
close connection between the man and his method of expres- 
sion is thus taken up into this higher meaning. We have no 
longer a merely physiological and relatively mechanical con- 
nection between the man and his pen, but a psychological and 
even ethical connection between the man and his speech. 
Style, therefore, is more than a manner of expression. It 
is a mental, moral, emotional, aesthetic product, formulated, 
incorporated in language. In the Hebrew language a man's 



* Essay on the Human Understanding. Book III, Chap. 37. 



THE RHETORICAL FORM 405 

name stands for the man himself. It is etymologically the 
''sign" of what is in the man. The close connection between 
the man and the manifold forms of his self-manifestation, 
among them his speech, lies at the basis of this word. The 
Latin word "fatum" suggests this connection. The word 
spoken is the fixed sign of the unalterable force behind of 
which the word spoken is an embodiment. The Greek word 
prjfxa means both speech and the thing spoken. The 
word and the matter of the word are identified. Think and 
thing are perhaps allied in significance. To think is to thing. 
To think something is to do something. The product of 
mental activity is the form in which the thought embodies 
itself. The form is the thing thought as embodied in the 
word uttered. The word is that in which the reality of the 
thought is actualized. So then, we think ourselves out into 
words and thus come to think in words. Limitation as to 
capacity for expression in language involves limitation as to 
capacity for thought. Absolute incapacity for speech, or 
for some form of expression that is a measurable substitute 
for it, would involve a corresponding incapacity for definite 
thought. Mr. George P. Marsh reminds us somewhere in 
his Lectures on the English Language that we remember 
our thoughts more definitely than our sensations and emo- 
tions for the reason that the former secure greater distinct- 
ness in consciousness and so leave a stronger impression 
upon us because of their connection with a definite form of 
words. For the same reason perhaps our uttered words, 
whether vocalized or written, are more distinctly recalled 
than our unuttered words. It is said of Louis Napoleon that 
he always wrote out on a slip of paper the object of thought 
he wished to be sure of remembering, then read it over and 
tore up the slip. This invariably fixed the thing in his mind. 
Possibly too it is for something the same reason that our 
acts stand out more definitely as objects of thought and are 



406 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

more readily recalled than the unformulated thoughts, feel- 
ings, convictions and purposes that lie behind them. The 
act objectifies what lies subjectively behind it. It puts it 
into form. And it may be that for this reason in part the 
outward act has a more powerful influence on character than 
the unacted thought or purpose behind it. Some men, per- 
haps most men, more readily commit to memory their 
uttered or written thoughts than those that are unuttered or 
unwritten. The contents of a manuscript that have been 
orally uttered in the process of writing are more readily 
retained in the memory than they would be if unvocalized. 
It is for this reason that memoriter preachers vocalize their 
sentences in the process of composition. The connection 
between thought and speech is most intimate and vital in the 
first moments of production. It may require positive effort 
and perhaps changed conditions to reproduce subsequently 
the same close connection. This is one reason why it is diffi- 
cult to repeat an old sermon successfully. It demands some 
change in the manuscript or a new congregation in order to 
reproduce the first impression. The reason why Whitefield 
could preach his old sermons with undiminished effective- 
ness was that he always had a new audience and by the 
power of feeling and imagination was able to re-wed thought 
to the words uttered. We see the principle illustrated in 
our confessions of faith. The reason why the old creeds fail 
to affect us is that the words have no longer vital connection 
with our religious thoughts, feelings and convictions. We 
must have new confessions in order to hold the connection 
between thought and words. The value of feeling and 
imagination in vitalizing the relation between thought and 
speech is illustrated by the successful evangelistic preacher. 
Here in part is the power of poetic utterance. Thought 
here secures a more vital connection with speech through 
the energizing power of feeling and imagination. The 



THE RHETORICAL FORM 407 

reason why an eye-witness is better than an ear-witness is 
that by the stir of feeling and imagination he is able to repro- 
duce what he has seen in more vivid language. He is able 
to vitalize the relation of thought and speech. Here in part 
is the secret of dramatic power. The actor not only repro- 
duces inwardly an imagined state of mind and feeling, but 
he makes them real and effective by an utterance correspon- 
ding. He effects so close a unification of thought, feeling 
and speech that he can talk as well as think and feel like 
another person. 

The cultivation of rhetorical form, then, is largely the 
cultivation of what lies back of it and is vital to it. This is 
significant for the culture of what may be called a pulpit style. 
Such a style will have certain peculiarities of its own. This 
point will reappear further on. The point just here is that 
the importance of the culture of rhetorical form for the 
pulpit is the importance of what lies back of it. It is easy to 
lose sight of this close connection between substance and 
form. This may in part account for the relative neglect of 
questions of rhetorical form in preaching. If substance and 
form may be treated as if they were independent of each 
other, it is no wonder that substance should be valued at 
the expense of form. It is indeed a creditable thing that an 
educated man should not be willing to become a literary 
pedant. For literary pedantry consists in disproportionate 
attention to form as such and in treating it in a merely 
analytical and external manner. We save the literary prod- 
uct and the literary man, we elevate the whole tone of any 
species of literature or form of utterance, we rescue it from 
pedantry on the one side, and on the other side we rescue 
the preacher from a supercilious contempt of questions of 
rhetorical form, by reemphasis of the very familiar but 
much-ignored fact that substance and form are inseparable. 
The study of literary form becomes, thus, one of the most 



408 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

interesting and valuable studies in which a scholar can 
engage. But it is to be borne in mind that one does not 
become an effective preacher simply by cultivating his intel- 
ligence, imagination, feelings and moral and religious life. 
One may be a good thinker, a good theologian, and a well- 
trained man in general and yet be a poor preacher. One 
may be a very pious and devout and enthusiastic man and 
yet be a poor minister of religion. One must study literary 
form as such. In fact one who trains himself in the art of 
expression may strengthen his capacity for exact thinking 
by the very processes of his training. Emerson early formed 
the habit of examining his thoughts with reference to their 
expression. This involved the counter-process of examining 
his expression with reference to his thoughts. Expression 
was an important interest in all his culture. "It is not 
knowledge we need," he said, "but vent." His thought was 
conditioned by the form it was to take. His habit of reflec- 
tion was conditioned by his habit of deliberate expression. 
A man's style does not take care of itself. It must be 
trained, and as it is trained it will affect what lies behind it 
and must be transmitted by it. The good stylist will always 
have the advantage of the man who fails in this respect, 
although the latter may be superior in his native endow- 
ments. It is not substance alone that makes a classic. The 
classic is of chief value not for its matter of thought but fori 
its perfection of form. The best classics with all their seem- 
ing of spontaneity and freedom are the product of long 
and laborious elaboration. Good form does not always 
presuppose the weightiest and most original substance of 
thought, although proper attention to form will surely 
influence the quality of thought, and it is certainly true that 
bad form indicates defective mental work. Inexact 
and obscure speech always involves defective mental 
discrimination. 



THE RHETORICAL FORM 409 

2. This leads to the suggestion that the preacher's 
responsibility as a public teacher accentuates the claims of 
rhetorical culture. No one can teach correctly who uses 
languages incorrectly. We see the need of it in the legal 
profession. No lawyer can succeed who does not express 
himself in clear, accurate, forcible language. We see the 
need in our legislative assemblies. They are composed 
largely of half-educated men, who have no mastery of the 
English language. Much legislation exhibits gross ignor- 
ance not only of facts and principles but of language. It is 
generally the trained lawyer of our legislative bodies that 
saves them from the disgrace of crude legislation. It would 
be well if all legislation were submitted for final revision to 
a committee of linguistic experts, as the Constitution of the 
United States was submitted. We need a more thorough 
study of the English language, not merely of English litera- 
ture, in all our public schools. No nation can remain a 
worthy representative of civilization whose public leaders are 
ignorant of their mother tongue. The degeneracy of our 
public men in this, as in other respects, is bodeful. Pulpit- 
speech is not technical, but the teaching of the pulpit de- 
mands not only careful thinking but careful statement. The 
correctness of a man's teaching depends on his use of lan- 
guage. The truth the preacher presents is important. It 
exacts closely upon the medium of its transmission. On 
moral as well as aesthetic grounds the form should answer to 
the quality of thought. There are certain qualities of speech 
that are eminently appropriate to the pulpit. At an early 
period in the history of the Christian pulpit, the special de- 
mands of Christian truth upon its form of presentation were 
recognized. Augustine's discussion* was based on solid 
rhetorical principles and is not without value today. The 
worthier one's conception of the importance of Christian 



*De Doctrina Christiana, part IV. 



410 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

truth the worthier his conception of its form will be. The 
object of Christian preaching also accentuates the signifi- 
cance of form. It is the production of character and the 
regulation of conduct by the presentation of truth to the 
heart and conscience as well as to the mind. Other speak- 
ers deal with relatively transient results. The preacher deals 
with results that are permanent and he is responsible with 
respect to the instruments that are fitted to produce these 
results. By his words shall he be justified and by his words 
shall he be condemned. It is "the King's English" that is 
committed to him. Surely no man who worthily represents 
the sanctities of human speech may "murder" or abuse or 
degrade "the King's English." People have a right to de- 
mand that the man who speaks to them on the weighty 
matters of religion shall speak worthily, and in such a way that 
they will correctly understand and feel the force of the truth. 
The reason why some men not thoroughly educated speak 
with great power not only to the so-called common people 
but to people of the best culture, is that they have learned, 
and never unlearned, to speak the English language in a 
clear, idiomatic, simple and forceful manner. Abraham 
Lincoln in political life and Mr. Spurgeon in ministerial life 
are notable examples. Such men as John Bunyan show 
what can be done with the English language. Greek and 
Roman orators knew the love of the people for their native 
tongue and they cultivated it with enthusiasm. Preachers 
might well take a lesson from them. If one would win the 
hearts of the people he must know something of the magic 
of their language. A simple, clear, idiomatic, pithy type of 
English would greatly strengthen the pulpit. Increase in 
the extemporaneous method of preaching may result in 
undervaluation of questions of rhetorical form. It is only 
careful literary culture that will save preaching from 
deterioration. 



THE RHETORICAL FORM 411 

3. The preacher's responsibility as a professional man 
to the general public has by suggestion already been antici- 
pated^ but may well receive additional recognition. The cul- 
ture of some professions does not find its best expression in 
public speech and the speaking professions vary in this 
regard. But the entire training of the preacher looks 
toward his function as a public speaker. He is properly 
assumed to represent preeminently the results of liberal cul- 
ture, especially in the domain of speech. No audience will 
or should tolerate in the pulpit what is accepted in the court- 
room, or in the legislative assembly, or on the platform or 
stump or even in the lecture room. It is the character of 
the vocation that exacts this superiority. 

The relation of the pulpit to the press accentuates this pro- 
fessional responsibility. Oral utterance has been and still 
is a great power. Trained speech has done much of the 
World's best work. Its power seems somewhat lessened in 
•our day. But its insignificance is not demonstrated. The 
press, powerful as it is, can never displace good public speech. 
The ultimate value of the press itself will depend upon the 
quality of public speech. The platform and the pulpit are 
behind the press. If these great popular forces should fail 
the press would sink into insignificance or degradation. 
The pulpit is still the sphere for most effective public address. 
It is still the throne of the church. Rhetorical and oratorical 
standards have changed. The old standards will not be re- 
called. But the need of effective speech in the pulpit has 
not changed. 

As an educated man, the preacher is responsible for the 
preservation of the purity and power of his mother tongue. 
It is a sacred inheritance, and is a special charge for those 
whose vocation necessitates a constant use of it. The 
preacher deals with the loftiest ideal realities. The exaltation 
of his calling exacts upon the exaltation of his instruments. 



412 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

Language is at its best in its association with religion. 
Religion should save it from degradation. A classic like 
our English Bible is a treasure to be guarded and worthily 
used. The tendency towards the corruption of language 
intensifies the responsibility. Many agencies are at work in 
this line. Mr. George P. Marsh* speaks of the connection 
between the debasement of national character and the de- 
basement of language as illustrated by the French and Italian 
languages. In this country democratic life absorbs all de- 
generative influences, the influence of foreigners, of the 
ignorant classes, of commercial, political and industrial life, 
and of the vicious classes. The press is one of the sources 
of corruption in the use of language. Mr. Richard Grant 
White charges that we are suffering from newspaper Eng- 
lish. Restless, ambitious, self-conceited, vulgar, mercenary, 
half-educated men, he charges, have to a large extent the 
handling of our public journals. It is less true today than 
when he wrote. But it is still measurably true. DeQuincy, 
in almost savage style, makes similar charges against the 
newspaper press of England. He charges that through this 
influence "an artificial dialect has come into play as the 
dialect of ordinary life." But it should be remembered that 
the press reflects to a considerable degree the habits and 
tastes of the general public. If the press is flippant and 
irreverent and artificial, it is an index of the character of the 
people that support it. If the people become flippant and 
unreal, its language can not preserve its dignity and 
strength and purity. The press has caught a certain tone 
of flippancy and vulgarity from a class of literary men mis- 
named realists. It appears in a droll, grotesque waggery 
miscalled humor. Responsible men should rescue language 
from such degradation. The pulpit is especially responsible 
to resist the tendency to vulgarize it. 

* Lectures on the English Language X and XL 



THE RHETORICAL FORM ' 413 

II. Professional Factors in Rhetorical Form 
1. The Common Factor. There must always be a com- 
mon use of a language that is common. All professions use 
it in much the same way. All types of oratory have elements 
that are common. The speech of the English Parliament is 
much like that of the English pulpit. French pulpit oratory 
is strikingly like French deliberative or forensic oratory. 
French preachers have perhaps been more decisively influ- 
enced by the standards of secular rhetoric and oratory than 
those of any other nation. But we find something corre- 
sponding in this country. There is an American type of 
oratory. It is conditioned by the peculiarities of our 
national character and life, temperamental peculiarities, read- 
ing habits, influence of the public press, immaturity, free- 
dom, bulkiness, lack of the habit of close discrimination, 
political and commercial life. The pulpit discloses its par- 
ticipation in what is common in our speech. It has certain 
elements of freedom, of idiomatic homeliness, of range and 
variety that are not so noticeable in the preaching of other 
countries. Modifications in theology and in the methods of 
preaching in different periods, in different sections of the 
country and in different religious communions have resulted 
in bringing American preaching to something approximating 
a common type. The study of rhetoric in our day, as well 
as the tendency towards ecclesiastical unification, is in the 
direction of what is common. Modern rhetoric is simple 
and unelaborate, it recognizes the fundamental principles 
that underlie all species of public utterance and regards them 
as substantially the same. The structure of a sermon is not 
generically different from that of a secular oration or 
address, and the same rhetorical qualities belong to each. 
This is to say that the laws of thought and of speech are 
much the same in all realms of speech. And thus in what is 
called elocution. We object to what is known as a pulpit 



4H THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

manner. It should conform to the ordinary standards of 
delivery. We have no sacred eloquence, no sacred gesture 
or posture, and no sacred rhetoric, although the name still 
lingers. And so of language. Its laws are the same for 
pulpit and platform. There is no sacred grammar. Or if 
there be, it is all sacred. -Language is not a class product. 
It is a common possession. The fact that it is largely a con- 
ventional sign accentuates this fact that we must use it every- 
where in much the same way. And yet we may correctly 
speak of a pulpit style. 

2. There are specific professional elements of rhetorical 
form. The sermon as a rhetorical product differs somewhat 
from any form of so-called secular address. The difference 
is conditioned partly by the themes with which the preacher 
deals, by the object he has in view and by the relation of the 
personality of the speaker to both. The theme is distinc- 
tively ethical and religious according to a Christian type, and 
is something more and other than a product of the preacher's 
independent thinking. The secular address has no such 
limitation. The object is to secure a distinctively Christian 
result. Like all public speech, it seeks to persuade, but the 
object of the persuasion is different. It seeks the advance- 
ment of personal manhood and of the kingdom of God. The 
secular address seeks the earthly welfare of the individual 
and of the social body. The theme and the aim involve also 
a different sort of audience. In the one case it is a worship- 
ping assembly. The chief interest is not the speaker, nor 
even the speech, but the worship. The speech is the instru- 
ment, the worship is the end, or rather the object of this 
worship is the end. In the other case we have an assembly 
whose prominent interest is largely in the speaker, and in his 
subject, but ultimately in the relation of both to some per- 
sonal or social advantage. In the pulpit address, also, the 
relation of the speaker to his subject and his object is closer 



THE RHETORICAL FORM 415 

than in the case of the secular address. In the former not 
only what is said and why it is said, but who says it is of far 
more importance than in the latter. The subject and the 
object exact more severely upon the organ of utterance. 
A close harmony between subject, object and agent is de- 
manded. The preacher's supreme concern must be with the 
truth he brings, with the object he aims at, with himself as 
the organ of truth and with the condition of his hearers. It 
is not enough that he make the hearer believe that what he 
says is true, whether it be true or not. Nor is it enough 
that his truth be a mere opinion. He must bring what has 
been brought to him and that truth must have a validity of 
its own, independently of his own opinion, or his own skill 
in presenting it, and it must at the same time, be truth 
that commends itself to his own conscience and heart, and 
to the conscience and hearts of his hearers. It is not enough 
that he make the hearer believe that the object he seeks is 
a good one. His object must stand the test of Christian 
criticism. It must conform to the demands of Christ, in 
whose name he speaks. It is not enough that he make the 
hearer believe that he is a good man, he must be what he pro- 
fesses to be, and what his master and his cause require that he 
should be. Hence in pulpit speech the theme and the cause 
are far more dependent on the man than in secular speech. 

Now all this will necessarily and inevitably have a modify- 
ing influence upon pulpit rhetoric all through. The theme, 
the object, the occasion, the associations, the audience con- 
dition a distinctive rhetorical product, and thus only does it 
become fit instrument to the accomplishment of the work in 
hand. 

3. But how do the conditions of pulpit speech affect a 
modification in it as a rhetorical product and what will be 
its characteristics? 

(1) They affect the preacher's vocabulary. Chris- 



416 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

tianity has created and consecrated a type of speech fitted to 
the work of the pulpit. There is a Christian vocabulary. 
The ideas of Christianity are incarnate in words that express 
their innermost reality. In its use of the Greek language it 
put new significance into old words and consecrated them 
to new service. There is hardly an important word used 
that does not undergo modification. But it effects a like 
modification in any language in which it may be proclaimed. 
There is a Christian vocabulary of the English language. 
We consecrate certain words to a specifically Christian use. 
They do not often appear in secular oratory, and when they 
do appear there they are accommodated. Their use in the 
way of rhetorical accommodation and for political purposes, 
like the cross and the crown of thorns of a well-known polit- 
ical speech, seems semi-sacrilegious and we more than half 
suspect the tricks of the demagogue in the use. We have 
consecrated a vocabulary as we have the pulpit in which it 
is used. In the progress of Christian theology the number 
of these terms has greatly increased. Every profession has 
its own terminology. That of the preacher has its own and 
it can not get on without it. Words onCe technical have 
ceased to be so, and the number of such words is increasing. 
They have become the property of the pulpit and the con- 
gregation and they serve their best uses here, although they 
are freely used in the personal intercourses of the Christian 
life. There is a "language of Canaan." Christian people 
understand each other because they speak this language. 
The criticism of the Christian vocabulary of the pulpit, of 
which we hear much in our day, is irrational. If it were 
cant, the criticism would be valid. But there is no cant in 
the use of Christian terms that still have a meaning. If the 
meaning changes, the preacher has only to interpret the 
change. To deny himself the use of a term that is fairly well 
understood, or can be easily interpreted, were folly. Of 



THE RHETORICAL FORM 417 

course terms that are strictly technical do not belong in the 
pulpit. It were worse than pedantry to use such terms. 
But there is a large Christian vocabulary that has ceased to 
be technical. The use of such a vocabulary, as illustrated by 
preachers like Mr. Spurgeon, greatly enriches preaching. 
What the preacher needs to do is to put fresh life into this 
vocabulary, not to commit it to the rubbish heap. The first 
thing Christianity does, when introduced to a pagan people, 
is to consecrate its language. The language must be conse- 
crated before the people can be. And the power of Chris- 
tianity to rescue language and consecrate it to holy uses is 
one of its marvels. It not only creates new words and con- 
secrates old ones, but elevates the whole tone of language, 
and the possibilities of any language, as of any man, for 
enrichment are never fully realized till religion gets hold of 
it. It elevates the speech of common life. It gives us the 
"speech that is seasoned with salt." It operates so uncon- 
sciously that we hardly realize it. But its power in the pul- 
pit is especially marked. The themes with which the 
preacher deals, and the tone which they produce, disclose 
their influence not only in vocabulary but in the entire char- 
acter of speech. 

(2) The conditions of the preacher's work influence the 
entire culture of the man and such culture is behind all the 
forms of his speech. Paul believed in a sort of verbal 
inspiration. The style in which the message is conveyed is 
appropriate to the character of the message. We need not 
press the term verbal inspiration, for it may be misleading. 
But it is perfectly evident that a preacher's culture will inev- 
itably condition the character of his speech. Let us see how 
this may be. 

(a) It may be done by influencing his mental powers. 
The great realities of religion quicken and expand the mental 
faculties. The mind itself is* greatened that grapples with a 



418 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

great religious theme. We see this even in ordinary men. 
No one ever comes to his best intellectually without the 
quickening of his religious manhood. Recall the testimony 
of Dr. Bushnell with respect to the influence of his religious 
awakening upon his mental powers and thus upon his literary 
style.* What quickens, strengthens, enlarges and dignifies 
the mind will disclose its results in one's speech. Such 
speech will have a weight, force, dignity and suggestiveness 
that were otherwise impossible. 

(b) It may be done by influencing the imagination. The 
great realities of Christianity of themselves powerfully appeal 
to the imagination. They are supernatural realities. We 
must interpret the term supernatural, and it must have a 
greatly modified significance. But to deny its reality in toto 
is to deny Christianity itself. Without supernatural realities 
the imagination would never be adequately developed. The 
choicest products of Christianity have appeared in the sphere 
of the imagination. Supernatural Christianity is behind all 
best Christian art. Note its idealistic quality as contrasted 
with the realistic quality of Greek art. If the world were to 
lose its grasp of Christian supernaturalism civilization itself 
would suffer an irreparable loss. Not only the truths and 
facts of Christianity, but the forms in which they appear 
appeal to the imagination. They are themselves largely 
forms of the imagination. How mightily all this affects 
human speech ! It is because of the influence of religion 
upon the imagination that pulpit speech becomes the noblest 
form of the art of speech. Nowhere beyond the Christian 
pulpit has human speech ever risen to such heights. No 
man can live in familiar contact with such lofty realities and 
with the forms in which they are embodied without catching 
something of their inspiration and reproducing them in the 
quality of his speech. The literary style of many great 

* Life and Letters of Horace Bushnell, pages 199, note, and 207-210. 



THE RHETORICAL FORM 419 

preachers has been modeled under this influence. Such 
preachers as Theodore Parker bear witness. A good pulpit 
style is product of the dignity, sobriety, rationality, imagina- 
tive symbolism and emotional fervor of the Christian reve- 
lation. It is a combination of the intellectual, the ethical, 
the emotional and imaginative elements of style. An excess 
of imaginative and emotional exuberance in pulpit speech is 
as foreign to a true method of interpreting Christianity as a 
corresponding exuberance in the architecture and decoration 
of our churches. A certain sobriety and chaste simplicity 
are demanded in the one as in the other case. The aim of 
religion is ethical and the imagination must always be the 
servant of the truth. But an imaginative style is a normal 
pulpit product. 

The prophetic utterance was the best form of the speech 
of the early Christian church. It was a combination of the 
reflective, the imaginative and the emotional elements. And 
this is the best type for our day. 

(c) It may be done, as has already been indicated, by 
influencing the emotions. Preaching is the work of a man 
who has a strong emotional interest in what he is doing. 
Religion stirs the strongest and purest emotions of the heart. 
But it is rational emotion. "The spirits of the prophets are 
subject to the prophets." It is not a normal influence of 
religion that stirs the feelings without touching the intelli- 
gence. The Pentecostal utterances of Christian speech were 
doubtless highly emotional. It was a natural expression of 
the new feelings that were stirring in the hearts of men. We 
find, however, a constant tendency to regulate emotion by 
reflection. The later and more approved utterance was in 
the form of the "word of wisdom/' and "of knowledge." 
And, as already suggested, of prophecy. Thus preaching 
took a more reasonable and intelligent form, although with 
no complete suppression of emotion. That would have been 



420 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

to "quench the spirit." Normal religious emotion is not 
independent of the imagination, for an imaginative utterance 
is an emotional utterance. But clear, correct vision steadies 
emotion. The ranter is not a normal product of the Chris- 
tian pulpit. He is more distinctively a heathen product. The 
prophet who raves is not the Christian prophet. But neither 
on the other side is a one-sided intellectual type of speech the 
normal product of the Christian pulpit. The speech in 
which vision and judgment regulate feeling and in which feel- 
ing inspires insight and intelligence, the speech that is self- 
poised, yet earnest and earnest yet self-poised, is the normal 
Christian speech. 

(d) It may be done by influencing the moral nature. The 
pulpit is a sphere for the training and culture of one's moral 
powers. The natural effect of preaching is the enrichment 
and ennobling of character. It not only presupposes that 
the preacher is, but it tends to make him, an earnest, sincere, 
consecrated man. And what affects character affects speech. 
"If a man would write in a noble style, let him first possess 
a noble soul," said Goethe. We may add: No such soul ever 
uttered itself in words that have wholly failed to suggest that 
nobility. A man's speech can not disguise his character for 
any considerable length of time. A base man can never 
handle a noble type of speech. Reverence, dignity, sincerity, 
benevolence, integrity, disclose themselves unconsciously 
and inevitably in the speech of a man whose vocation fur- 
nishes the best sphere for the culture of these qualities and 
who allows it to work its legitimate results. All the higher 
ethical qualities of style are naturally developed in the pulpit. 
Note for example the effect of a strong moral purpose upon 
energy of style. The man whose will is set strongly upon 
his task will speak with concentrated energy. A nerveless 
and ignoble type of speech is a perverted product of the 
Christian pulpit. 



THE RHETORICAL FORM 421 

III. Methods of Rhetorical Culture 
There is no ideal literary style, as there is no ideal preach- 
ing in general. Every preacher's rhetorical method should 
be his own. Which is to say that it should be natural. Style 
is a concrete reality, not an abstract conception. It is this 
quality of naturalness that should distinguish it. It is some- 
thing, therefore, that can not be taught by rule, nor mechan- 
ically imitated. We speak of the born orator. We mean 
that back of all the training of such a man there is a reason, 
in his make up, why he speaks as he does and as well 
as he does, just as back of a man's physical and psychical 
training there is a reason in his physical and psychical con- 
stitution why he has his own facial expression and gait and 
manners. One in whom the native forces that are essential 
to good speech are strong we call a born orator. But within 
the limits of nature style may be cultivated. The born 
orator must become the trained orator. Good qualities may 
be bettered and bad ones overcome. The history of oratory 
shows what training may do. Richard Grant White says 
that John Bunyan's literary style could not have been bet- 
tered. But it was bettered. It is a great mistake to suppose 
that there can be anything approximating literary or rhe- 
torical or oratorical perfection, without most laborious 
effort. Let us look at some of the conditions and methods 
of the rhetorical culture. 

1. It is natural first of all to think of personal training 
and discipline. No man has a well-trained style in the fullest 
and best sense who is not himself a well-trained man. A 
speaker expresses not only himself in his style but the results 
of his culture. Personality is at its best and expresses itself 
at its best only when it is a well-developed and well-disci- 
plined personality. Training from without is not enough. 
There must be training from within. It is a vital process. 
Without a free and vigorous handling from within of one's 



422 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

powers rhetorical study and training are sure to result in an 
artificial and unreal product. 

I touch here once more upon a sphere which previously 
we have frequently entered. But it may have new signifi- 
cance in its specific relation to the culture of rhetorical form, 
(i) Mental culture is necessary to rhetorical culture. A 
man's style is as his thought. But the thought is as the 
mind that produces it. The culture of rhetorical form is 
therefore primarily the culture of the mind that generates 
the thought which is the matter of the form. Three mental 
requirements are essential to good rhetorical form, and they 
are subject to indefinite culture, mental freedom, mental pro- 
ductiveness, mental order. 

In our best and most effective utterances our mental fac- 
ulties move freely. A hampered mind cannot express itself 
naturally, because not freely. The mind must be awakened 
from within. Recall the depressing effect of rhetorical criti- 
cism upon the mind when it is conscious of not being awake 
to seize and sift and appropriate the good of it. An excess 
of external criticism is likely to result in a slavish imitation. 
There comes a time in almost every man's mental history 
when he awakes to a new mental experience. It may come 
early in one's student life. It may come later. Often the 
experiences of practical life are necessary to awaken men 
from within. It may come suddenly as a sort of mental 
regeneration. Better were it if it came earlier. Happy the 
teacher who has the skill to awaken young men in student 
days from their slumbers. Happy the man who finds the 
teacher who can awaken him to a knowledge of himself and 
can quicken him into new mental life. But in student days 
most young men fail to understand themselves, fail to get at 
the secret of their strength, fail to know what work they can 
do best or how best to do it and fail to avail themselves to 
best advantage of the training to which they are subjected. 



THE RHETORICAL FORM 423 

We ofter hear men say that they have in subsequent years 
been obliged to emancipate themselves from the rhetorical 
and homiletical training they have received in college and 
divinity schools. The explanation of all this is evident. 
Their training was too formal, too external and it became a 
fetter. It was the call of life that awakened them from 
within, and forced them to form new judgments of their 
already acquired knowledge. Then they began to work with 
freedom and facility and satisfaction. They are at last upon 
their feet. They have found themselves. Their methods of 
working seem more natural to them because their innermost 
powers have been awakened. They are emancipated from the 
tyranny of external rules, and they work unconsciously in- 
line with inwardly regulative principles. Such consciousness 
of new freedom and power may be accompanied by too 
strong a reaction against former teaching and training. But 
their thraldom was partly their own fault. Ministers some- 
times arraign the homiletic teaching and training to which 
they were subjected in the divinity school. There is likely 
to be a good deal of injustice in this. A large part of every 
man's early training will almost necessarily be of a some- 
what formal, routine sort. A great amount of drudgery with 
small things is necessary to any man's equipment. We must 
do a great deal that seems useless and the result of which we 
cannot consciously appropriate at the time. It is a great 
mistake to suppose that all this is utterly useless and that 
time spent in such drudgery was wholly wasted. And yet 
there is a good deal of waste in all our educative processes, 
and largely for the reason that the student is not mentally 
awakened. It is only the thoroughly awakened mind that 
can make available to best uses the products of any kind of 
training. Impatience with most scrupulous, painstaking, 
toilful effort of any sort in one's rhetorical and homiletic 
training in years of preparation would be a great mistake. 



424 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

But it would be a more serious mistake for one not to learn 
that he must find out how to use his training, whatever it may 
be, to best advantage. And it is greatly to be hoped that no 
young minister will be obliged to wait till he gets out into 
the work of life before he awakens to such knowledge of 
himself, his gifts, capacities and needs as will enable him to 
make useful unto the utmost whatever training he may get 
in earlier years. Whatever, then, at any time awakens the 
mind to freedom of action and to the concentration of its 
forces tends to the production of those qualities of style that 
are necessary to effectiveness in the pulpit. Such awaken- 
ings often result in a sudden and marked change in one's 
rhetorical style. Changes in the style of the preaching of 
Chalmers, Robertson and Bushnell are classic illustrations. 
We see something like this on a large scale in the revival of 
a national literature. An awakening of the national mind 
emancipates literature from its formal, imitative and lifeless 
character, and makes it a new power among the people. An 
age of literary pedantry gives place to an age of creative 
activity. 

Mental fulness and productiveness are a condition of good 
literary form. The fuller one is of his subject, the better, 
other conditions being given, will he express himself. Of 
course men differ greatly in this matter. A man like Henry 
Ward Beecher speaks with an ease, an affluence and a natural- 
ness because of his enormous intellectual productiveness, 
that were impossible for the ordinary preacher. But any 
man of fair equipment may enlarge his mental resources, and 
increase his producing power till he shall find increasing 
facility of expression. We are told that the mind should 
never be forced. Thought that has value will come freely. 
But thought that is laboriously produced may win for itself 
at last a free and easy expression, as the style of men noted 
as hard workers demonstrates. A mind that is not over- 



THE RHETORICAL FORM 425 

worked and jaded should be whipped into vigorous action. 
One is not fully himself who is not the master of his mental 
resources. An indolent habit of mind means a weak, con- 
fused, unimpressive habit of utterance. A desultory habit 
limits mental energy and productiveness, and so power of 
expression. The mind should be held steadily and concen- 
tratedly to its task. Mental concentration means mental 
vigor. 

Mental training by conditioning orderly thought also be- 
comes tributary to rhetorical form. Orderly thought means 
clear expression. Perspicacity is back of perspicuity. It 
means also naturalness of expression, for there are no gaps 
or unbridged gulfs of thought into which the mind plunges 
and from which it must extricate itself by a blind struggle 
that contorts rhetorical expression. It means also forceful 
utterance, for thought that is held strictly and firmly will 
express itself with a vigor corresponding. The force of 
mental momentum imparts itself to the style of speech. As 
thought kindles in its orderly movement, speech glows 
correspondingly. Mental disorder is mental paralysis. A 
mob is never in good righting trim. 

(2) Moral culture is necessary to the best rhetorical cul- 
ture. The aims and purposes of a man's life inevitably affectf 
his speech. What lifts one's moral; and religious nature ele- 
vates and ennobles his utterance. It may do it consciously 
or unconsciously, directly or indirectly, largely unconsciously 
and indirectly. Moral purpose is essential to effective 
preaching. No true preacher can be indifferent as to results. 
The best preachers are students of methods of effectiveness 
on moral grounds. To produce and arrange thought is not 
the whole problem. A man's way of putting his thought is 
an important matter, and the man who makes a successful 
study of this needs behind it all a direct, strong moral pur- 
pose. People are ready for the man who speaks with a pur- 



426 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

pose and who, therefore, speaks effectively. The rhetorician 
and the elocutionist may be dangerous teachers for the man 
who subjects himself to them without putting strong moral 
purpose into his work. A habit of moral earnestness may 
be tributary to clearness of utterance. It knows itself as 
responsible to be intelligible. Important interests demand 
it. The man who honors the truth and loves his fellowmen 
will wish to get his message clearly before those who wait 
upon his ministry. It is associated with that quality we call 
fervor, a species of which is unction, one of the qualities of 
energetic utterance. It will be real, not professional emo- 
tion. It will not be a hothouse exuberance of fancy, but it 
will give imagination good range. Exactness of statement 
may be a rhetorical virtue in the preacher. But the speech 
of a man who is in dead earnest is not likely to be so severely, 
so coldly exact as to be ineffective. Such speech is remote 
from the ordinary audience, because defective in emotional 
warmth and in moral cogency. It would discredit a certain 
largeness and suggestiveness which the use of the imagina- 
tion and feelings impart to preaching. There are preachers 
that seem to be afraid of their emotions and of their imagina- 
tions. They are afraid to let themselves out in a large and 
suggestive way. They whip their thoughts soundly in order 
to make them humble and tame. They shave them down to 
the bone, so that no fleshly bloom is left upon them. They 
get rid of all sail and all steam and they run their homiletic 
craft under the bare poles. A strong moral purpose will 
save a man from such ineffectiveness. It will save him on 
the other hand from the exaggerations of the sensationalist 
or the emptiness of the vendor of cant. It will produce a 
genuinely earnest type of speech that is fervid without ex- 
travagance or cant or without intellectual priggishness or 
ethical diletantism. 
And such speech will have moral pungency. No display 



THE RHETORICAL FORM 427 

here, no self-consciousness. It is straight speech. The 
form catches the reality, the vitality, of thought, feeling and 
purpose that lie behind. Frederick Robertson was a 
preacher of this sort. 

Sincerity and sobriety also are qualities inseparable from 
such speech. A preacher must be forcible, but he is respon- 
sible for the sobriety of his statements. Insincerity and ex- 
travagances were the vices of classical rhetoric that brought 
it into disfavor with the Christian church. A genuinely 
earnest man will not strain after emotional effects. Flip- 
pancy is out of place in the pulpit. Men like Dean Swift 
and Robert South were deficient in genuine moral earnest- 
ness and sincerity. Some of the old Puritan preachers even 
were deficient in this matter. 

2. I suggest secondly study of the properties of good 
pulpit style. One must know what such a style is, must have 
some standard wherewith to test it. Knowledge of a rhe- 
torical defect presupposes knowledge of what discloses it as 
a defect and knowledge of a rhetorical virtue presupposes 
knowledge of what vindicates it as such. A preacher should 
know his rhetorical defects and should be intolerant of them. 
It is easy to slip into faulty habits of speech. In the pres- 
sure of modern life it is difficult to maintain a high rhetorical 
standard. It is well for a preacher, especially in the early 
period of his professional life while his rhetorical habits are 
forming, to pause in his work and raise practical concrete 
questions : Does what I am now saying express just what I 
mean, or is it ambiguous? If I express myself in this way, 
will my hearers, at any rate most of them, but better all of 
them, understand me or understand me correctly? It is 
clear enough to me, but is it proportionately clear to them? 
Are they familiar with this terminology which is so clear to 
me? Will they readily get the meaning of this sentence, 
which is clear enough to me? Is it necessary to explain 



428 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

terms that express fine distinctions in thought? Is it neces- 
sary to reconstruct this sentence in order to straighten it out 
into simplicity and perspicuity? Shall I satisfy or offend 
the tastes of my hearers, or shall I meet the claims of my own 
profession upon me as an educated man or the exactions of 
my own best taste and judgment, if I indulge myself in such 
and such forms of expression? Am I succeeding in making 
a sufficiently strong expression in my use of terms or in the 
structure of my sentences? In such forms of expression am 
I conscious of an unnatural effort or is it strictly normal? 
Is my vocabulary or the architecture of my sentences strict 
idiomatic English? It is well to raise these questions not 
infrequently. It all means, of course, has my pulpit style the 
qualities of exactness, clearness, elegance, force, natural- 
ness and purity that are necessary to secure the best results 
of preaching? It involves a study of the laws of language 
as related to these properties. These laws have been inves- 
tigated, registered and formulated in the science of rhetoric. 
To come then to the science of rhetoric for the knowledge 
of a good style is to come to the formulated results of obser- 
vation and experience. It is to come to the standards of 
intelligence and good taste. And this is valid for all types 
of speech, all occasions, all themes, all speakers. But a 
good pulpit style must meet specific as well as general de- 
mands. Generic qualities must adapt themselves to specific 
wants. Different themes call for and naturally secure dif- 
ferent rhetorical forms. A style that speaks prevailingly to 
the understanding will differ essentially from one that speaks 
chiefly to the feelings and imagination. A man who treats 
his subject argumentatively will speak differently from one 
who presents it illustratively. The evangelistic sermon will 
have a different rhetorical style from the doctrinal or ethical 
sermon. The character of the audience also is involved. 
What might be perfectly clear to one audience would be 



THE RHETORICAL FORM 429 

obscure to another. What might strike one audience as 
rude and vulgar would impress another as simply strong and 
manly. What might captivate one would offend another. 
Even the size of the audience may well be considered. A 
small audience, especially of plain people, need plain speech. 
An elaborate or elevated style of speaking to a small audi- 
ence and on ordinary occasions would not be fitting, it would 
not be in good rhetorical form. Rhetorical form has rela- 
tion, moreover, to the condition of the preacher. No man 
always preaches in just the same way. Style varies with sub- 
jective conditions and external influences. It varies in the 
same discourse. Extemporaneous preachers especially dis- 
close a considerable range of variety in their pulpit style. 
They frequently deliberately break up their style and shoot 
suddenly down from the elevated to the homely and collo- 
quial method of speech. They are also unconsciously ex- 
posed to a great variety of unforeseen influences that break 
in upon their speech and that often secures a momentary 
freshness and pungency and power. Some of these in- 
fluences are beyond the reach of investigation. But many 
of them are subjects of study and he who could be a master 
of assemblies will investigate them. 

3. I suggest thirdly the study of models. Homiletic style 
like homiletic structure is best studied in its concrete prod- 
ucts. And in the study of the one as of the other three 
methods are essential. (1) The process of analytic inves- 
tigation is one method. The verbal and grammatical ele- 
ments of a preacher's product or of any literary product are 
important. Words and sentences can not convey all there is 
in a man's style. They may suggest more than they them- 
selves contain. But style is largely a matter of vocabulary 
and syntax. Emerson was a student of the verbal and gram- 
matical elements of English. His chaste and wealthy vocab- 
ulary is product of minute, painstaking study of words. 



430 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

It was this sort of study that Dr. Johnson had in mind when 
he advised students to give their days and nights to Addison. 
Orators have studied in this manner. Demosthenes studied 
Thucydides with reference to the vocabulary, and the order 
and the rhythm of the sentences. There is a choice and 
order of words that result in different qualities of style. All 
artists have been analytical students of their art. The 
experimental sketches of different parts of the human body 
which one sees in the studio of Michael Angelo at Florence 
indicate the artist's knowledge of anatomy. His statue of 
Moses shows his genius for powerful effects in statuary, but 
behind it stands most careful and painstaking and minute 
analysis of anatomical structure. A public speaker, even 
though he be what we call a born orator, will never be the 
master of his art without study of the elements of his art. 
Mere familiarity with the impressions that come from a lit- 
erary product will not bring an adequate knowledge of the 
sources of the impressions. The one who merely absorbs 
impressions can give no rational account of them to himself 
or to others. An analytical examination of vocabulary, 
syntax, figures of speech, qualities of style, different species 
of composition, will be of value to the preacher long after 
the preparatory period of study. Ordinary reading can not 
be a substitute for such examination. To read an author 
is not to study him. 

(2) The process of unconscious absorption, however, is 
another method. Much that is best in a man's literary style 
is caught by what we call the literary sense. There is an 
unnamable quality that seems to lie back of a man's language. 
It belongs to the man and language while it hints at it, does 
not wholly interpret it. We get at it in a half-conscious way 
by familiarity with it, just as by familiarity with our friends 
and without much conscious reflection or critical analysis, 
we detect in a thousand little manifestations what lies behind 



THE RHETORICAL FORM 431 

their faces and forms in their characters, just as in our 
observation of a landscape scene we take in unconsciously 
and unreflectively a multitude of things that enter into the 
sum total of our impressions. In Italy and Germany unedu- 
cated people are in constant contact with the best products 
of painting, sculpture and music, and they are often better 
art critics than educated people in this country. We are 
obliged to go abroad for the study not only of art principles 
but art products. No American needs to go abroad to study 
rhetoric and oratory. What we need, however, in this 
country is a better use of the English language in common 
life. One who lives in a good literary atmosphere uncon- 
sciously forms correct habits of speech and a correct literary 
taste. Literary sense is largely the product of unconscious 
influence. Richard Grant White traced his literary tastes 
and his use of the English language to the atmosphere of the 
school in which he fitted for college, to the influence of his 
teachers and school fellows in their use of English and to 
his study of English classics. We can readily trace the in- 
fluence of the English training-schools for boys, like Rugby 
and Eton, upon the speech of the public men of England. 
An idiomatic and energetic English style may be fostered 
by habitual intercourse with the so-called common people, 
especially those of native vigor of mind. The average, 
every-day sort of man is accustomed to say what he means 
in a simple, straight and forceful manner. But if one would 
cultivate a refined use of language he will cultivate the 
society of those who speak and write the better type of 
English. The influence of the written literary product is 
great, but the influence of the oral product is greater. And 
yet absorption of the written product is a large part of a 
preacher's literary culture, and especially of the best poets. 
(3) Practice in writing connected with study is essential. 
Thus only can the results of study be utilized to best advan- 



432 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

tage. The objects of our own investigation or of our intel- 
lectual commerce are of chief value in calling out and direct- 
ing our own activities. If they supersede our own activities 
their influence is harmful. 

With regard to practice, the following suggestions may be 
made. With most of them all students of English are 
familiar and they have found them of practical value : 

The practice of examining specimens of English that are 
defective with respect to the essential properties of style, 
e. g., purity, exactness, clearness, elegance, force, etc., in 
order to find out just where the defect lies or in what it con- 
sists and then making the effort to correct the defect. The 
practice of absorbing or memorizing the substance of the 
thought of some writer noted for excellence of style, some 
preacher by preference, and then incorporating it in one's 
own language, and comparing the result. One sees by com- 
parison where one's defect lies. One thus tests himself by 
his model. Having the example immediately before one he 
may in a free way avail himself of what it can do for him. 
It is not done mechanically. 

The practice of translating poetry into prose. This famil- 
iarizes one with poetic diction and at the same time enables 
one to turn it into its proper prose equivalent. A purely 
poetic diction would be offensive in the pulpit. Yet the 
semi-poetic or a prose-poetic diction is desirable in preaching. 
The practice of turning poetry into prose is an aid in the 
culture of such diction. This is the more important in the 
early years of professional study. The scientific habit of 
mind or the habit of mental abstraction leads to the cultiva- 
tion of an abstruse and non-poetic diction. 

The practice of translating from foreign languages. Such 
practice habituates one to careful observation of the pecu- 
liarities, either the excellencies or the possible defects of 
any classic, in order to get not only the meaning but the 



THE RHETORICAL FORM 433 

spirit of it. Careful observation of delicate shades of mean- 
ing is essential to this. Such practice with a dead language 
is more valuable than with a living language, because it is 
more difficult. It is more difficult because the objects which 
the words represent are for the most part no longer in 
existence. We are obliged, therefore, to exercise the imag- 
ination more largely, and it is such exercise that is of great 
value in the study of language. Such practice also enriches 
one's vocabulary. To reproduce fine shadings of thought 
taxes vocabulary. It necessitates careful discrimination and 
it is discrimination that enlarges vocabulary. It cultivates 
ingenuity in the effort to overcome the difficulty of rendering 
in idiomatic English what appears in a wholly foreign idiom. 
Orators have been accustomed to this practice for the pur- 
pose of mastering such difficulties and of enriching their 
vocabulary. 

Careful independent practice in writing. There are but 
few, I imagine, who attain to a good use of English who 
have not at some time habituated themselves to the com- 
posing of each sentence of a written product carefully in the 
mind, and to the uttering of it audibly before it is written 
down. It may be of value to vocalize it vigorously before it 
is written. At any rate it is not well to write the sentence 
until it is clearly conceived and distinctly uttered. This will 
be slow work, but it will pay in the end. One who is willing 
to begin with care can afford to leave the question of facility 
and rapidity to the future. They will come in due course. 
Better spend a few months or even years in careful pains- 
taking with the certainty of ultimate facility of excellence, 
than begin with a careless habit with the certainty of a facility 
of hopeless imperfection. 

This last suggestion may need some limitation. Correc- 
tions should not quench vitality. One should therefore, 
compose in such way as will secure this. Proper care, how- 



434 THE WORK OF THE PREACHER 

ever, does not devitalize style. We do not find that any of 
the great writers, who have, as we know, patiently and toil- 
fully elaborated their English, have worked the life out of it. 
But in the flow and fervor of production it may be difficult 
to secure the perfection of form one would desire, without 
losing something of the freshness that is so necessary to 
effectiveness. One may be so wrought up that it may be 
difficult to combine critical severity with emotional freedom. 
In such case it may sometimes be best to run off one's work 
at a single sitting. The work can be corrected, and often 
best corrected after it has been for a little time laid aside. 
In this way vitality may be protected and defects corrected. 
One's best work, even with respect to literary form, is often 
done under high pressure and with great rapidity. Sermons 
written in such moments of exalted enthusiasm will hardly 
need much change. Still one will wish to avail himself of an 
hour of cool reflection in order to look up faults. But if one 
can compose in the careful way above suggested and at the 
same time keep the flow and flush and vigor essential to 
effectiveness, he will best do so. 

Writing in a tentative way is often necessary in order to 
limber up the mind and get it into free action. It may take 
time to get well started. The mind needs plenty of rope. It 
is well to let it have its own way for a while, till it begins to 
show that it is ready to begin work in good earnest. When 
that moment comes one will throw the product into the 
waste-paper basket and start anew. All this is simply to say 
that in the right cultivation of rhetorical form it is necessary 
to get the mind into free action, for one's true style is an 
utterance of the mind when it works with least restraint. 














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